Scottie Scheffler’s colossal eight-shot victory at the FedEx St Jude Championship was exactly what the PGA Tour needed. Yes, we all love tightly fought contests where one small error can prove disastrous.
But every now and then you need the best players to say enough is enough, this is my time. Fitzpatrick and Young both threatened to become ‘that’ guy but tapered off as the year progressed. Enter stage left: Scottie Scheffler (who is by some distance the best player in the world). The American put a season of frustration behind him with a seismic win that could spell doom for anyone else with FedEx Cup aspirations.
A head-scratching year
This has been a year of agonizing near misses for America’s calmest superstar. The world No.1 laid down the gauntlet early doors, strolling to victory at the season-opening American Express to suggest another year of utter dominance. But the affable American lost a bit of his killer instinct since then, finishing runner-up on no less than five occasions (including close shaves at both the Masters and Players Championship). Scheffler has been just as much of a statistical beast as always, leading the way in SG: Total, SG: Off-the-tee, Scrambling, Greens in Regulation and Birdie Average. He’s just been falling short in the minor details, losing some of the zen-like aura that has given him such an intangible advantage in recent seasons.
Scheffler fronts up in final round
And there was a moment on Sunday where Scheffler looked like he could be headed for yet more desperate soul-searching. He hit what appeared to be a perfect bunker shot at the par-5 3rd, only for the ball to hit a sprinkler, race across the green and plop into the water. On the way to the drop zone, Scheffler asked caddie Ted Scott, “When is this going to stop happening”. He would go on to bogey the hole and have his lead cut to one stroke. It would have been easy for Scheffler to sink into despair mode after what has been a season of missed opportunities. But he rallied in tremendous fashion, making birdie on the next two holes before romping to an eight-stroke triumph.
Golf’s very own Spider-Man
Spider-Man: Brand New Day is not the only arachnid-inspired product that is shining right now. Scheffler famously switched to the Spider Tour X putter back in 2024 and he hasn’t looked back since, ironing out some of those serving yips to become nigh-on invincible when everything clicks together. And everything clicked together at TPC Southwind. Scheffler gained a career-best +8.92 strokes on the greens at the year’s first playoff event (which pretty much accounts for his margin of victory). All the putts that have been grazing the edges in recent weeks suddenly found their way into the back of the cup. Moreover, he holed an incredible 383 feet of putts during the week- little surprise that he currently ranks 3rd on tour for SG: Putting. You know you have a player on your hands when he ranks 3rd on the tour for the category which is supposed to be his weakness.
Dancing with the greats
Scheffler’s victory in Memphis was the 21st of his PGA Tour career. The 30-year-old is the 3rd youngest man to reach 21 victories. Who are the other two men? Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. And all those titles have come since the beginning of 2022. For context, Rory McIlroy won his first tour title back in 2010 and now has 30 titles to his name (that’s an average of around 2 titles per year). Scheffler is currently averaging over 4! I wouldn’t be surprised if he won the last two events of the season with similarly casual ease.
