Scottie Scheffler walks away with dominant FedEx St Jude Championship win
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Scottie Scheffler playing his shot from the seventh tee during the final round of the FedEx St Jude Championship on Aug 16.
PHOTO: AFP
- Scottie Scheffler won the FedEx St. Jude Championship with a dominant 17-under-par 263, finishing eight strokes ahead of runner-up Si Woo Kim.
- This victory was Scheffler's first since January and his 21st career win, marking his second triumph of 2026.
- The FedEx Cup playoffs continue next week with the BMW Championship, previously won by Scheffler in 2025.
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MEMPHIS, Tennessee – World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had a fair share of close calls in 2026, but not on Aug 16 in the FedEx St Jude Championship.
The American shot a four-under 66 in the final round and pulled away to win the tournament by eight strokes and extend his lead in the FedExCup play-offs in Memphis.
“I felt like a week like this was coming,” said the 30-year-old, who registered his first victory since January. “I felt like I was on repeat all year just being like, ‘Hey, I’m playing solid. I’m close’.
“It feels good to be answering some different questions at the end of this week.”
He added: “I have had some close calls this year. I feel like I kept saying at the end of each tournament that I feel like I am playing pretty good, it’s just little things that aren’t going my way.”
He finished at 17-under 263 for an eight-stroke advantage on runner-up Kim Si-woo (68) of South Korea at TPC Southwind, where the opening event of three tournaments in the FedExCup play-offs took place.
It was the tournament’s second-largest margin of victory in the last 30 years, though the largest winning gap at TPC Southwind.
“I felt like I’ve been in a good rhythm,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t hit maybe as many fairways this week, but I was really sharp with the irons, and I rolled it really good on the greens.”
None of the other contenders made much of a push on Aug 16, and by midway through the round, his lead expanded from two strokes to five.
He poured it on with birdies on holes No. 11, 13 and 16 to secure his 21st victory on the tour.
Earlier, Scheffler took a strange bogey on the par-five third hole when his blast from the bunker apparently struck a sprinkler head and rolled off the green and into the water. He did not have another blemish on his card.
The more than six-month gap since his last victory was the longest he has gone between titles since 2023, when he won The Players Championship in March and did not return to the winner’s circle again until the Hero World Challenge in December.
Despite a statistically superb year, missing just one cut, he admitted that could not compare with hoisting a trophy.
“Statistics are one thing, but being able to win golf tournaments is another,” said Scheffler, who had nine wins in 2024, including Paris Olympic gold, and six in 2025.
“This is a lot better feeling than having statistically another good week.”
American Sam Burns (73) and Sweden’s Alex Noren (69) tied for third at eight under, while Wyndham Clark (68) of the US and South Korea’s Im Sung-jae (74) shared fifth place at seven under.
Burns, who was in the final pairing with Scheffler, said: “I would have had to play pretty much a perfect round of golf to have a chance today.
“And I didn’t come close to that. Yeah, he played exactly how I expected him to.”
Noren notched birdies from the 14th to 16th holes to climb the leaderboard.
“Just kept doing the same stuff, and it was quite a trip, and the game got a little bit better every day,” said the 44-year-old. “Just tried to almost enjoy the struggle in the heat as well.”
The best round of the day was turned in by England’s Justin Rose, the 2025 champion, with a 64. But the 46-year-old was so far back that it pushed him only to an even-par 280 for the tournament and into a tie for 39th place.
It was a frustrating tournament for Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, whose final-round 72 left him at eight over and in 66th place. The 37-year-old will advance, nonetheless, perhaps encouraged with his five birdies across the final 10 holes on Aug 16.
“I guess, nice to shake the rust off a little bit,” he said. “But I’m going to have to work pretty hard between now and next Thursday to feel like I have any sort of golf game to compete next week.”
The next stop in the play-offs is the coming week’s BMW Championship, which was won by Scheffler in 2025. Matt McCarty of the US landed the 50th and final spot into the field.
Im was the only one to play his way into the top 50 this week, from 53rd to 40th. That came at the expense of Keith Mitchell, who dropped from 49th to 51st as the first one out. Fellow American and former world No. 1 Jordan Spieth managed to reach only 52nd in the points race and will not go to the BMW. REUTERS, AFP
