Scottie Scheffler has all the answers at FedEx St. Jude Championship

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Scottie Scheffler thought it was happening again.

Watching his greenside bunker splash out on the par-5 third hole and bounce wildly off a sprinkler head, rolling into the water and turning a likely birdie putt into a scramble to save bogey, he could only turn to caddie Ted Scott and shake his head.

“I told Teddy when we were going down there to drop my ball, and I was like, ‘When is this going to stop happening?’” Scheffler said. “He’s like, 'I don’t know, man.’”

Scheffler has endured months of close calls. Yes, he had a win on the board at The American Express in his first start of the year, but since then there have been a bevy of what-might-have-beens. There were tournaments where he looked great on paper but saw a rally fall short, or watched as an opponent bested him in a playoff.

But this day was different. Scheffler’s bad break on No. 3 proved to be the only time he blinked on Sunday, as he left the field in his wake en route to a dominant, eight-shot victory at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

The victory “drought,” by Scheffler’s standards, is over in a big way.

“It’s not easy to win out here. I felt like this year, the year I’ve had kind of shows that, how difficult it is,” Scheffler said. “I felt like a week like this was coming.”

Scheffler did everything right this week at TPC Southwind, where a second-round 61 put the trophy within reach and his final-round 66 left no doubt.

He combined his typically elite ball-striking with the best Strokes Gained: Putting performance of his career, picking up nearly nine shots against the field on the greens alone. He made three birdie putts from outside 20 feet in the final round, the last of which rolled in on No. 13. By that point, the tournament was effectively over.

“I knew he was going to put a solid round together. Honestly, it was going to be really difficult,” said Sam Burns, who played alongside Scheffler in the final pairing and finished T3 after a final-round 73. “He played exactly how I expected him to.”

For all intents and purposes, Scheffler is still the same player that compiled 13 wins and three major titles across the 2024 and 2025 seasons. He’s leading in all the same statistical categories, began this week with a healthy head start in the FedExCup race and still garnered plenty of Player of the Year support among his peers earlier in the week despite not winning since January.

Now that paradigm has been flipped on its head, as Scheffler notched the second eight-shot romp of his career to go along with THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson last year. It’s the largest winning margin this year on TOUR, and only Tiger Woods (10) has more TOUR wins by eight shots or more.

Scheffler started the day with a two-shot cushion, his first 54-hole lead in more than a year, and it helped him in part endure an early wobble after the bad bounce on No. 3. But he made five birdies the rest of the way without dropping a shot, and his 4-under 66 was bettered only by defending champ Justin Rose (64) on a day when TPC Southwind played over par (70.56) for the first time all week.

“It was nice to come out this week and play some solid golf and really execute when I needed to,” Scheffler said. “This is a course where that’s really what it comes down to. There’s a lot of holes where there’s not even a correct miss. It’s just a matter of stepping up there and hitting really good shots.”

Speaking with another trophy once again in his possession, Scheffler pointed to his ball-striking as a traditional strength that allowed him to separate on a demanding layout. But his putter was equally a star, creating a potent combo that likely would have led to top billing on any venue this week.

“I felt like I holed a lot of those kind of 15- to 20-footers,” Scheffler said. “I was able to give myself a lot of looks and putt aggressively from there. I didn’t really feel like I was putting for par a ton over the course of the week, and that definitely helps you feel freer on the greens for sure.”

Win No. 21 of his career cleared up a couple of formalities for Scheffler, as he’s now assured of holding the top spot in the FedExCup standings entering the TOUR Championship. He also became the first player to officially clinch a spot on the Presidents Cup U.S. Team, as he’ll make his third appearance next month at Medinah Country Club.

But the focus on Sunday for Scheffler was back where he wants it to be: on the scoreboard. After months of close calls and near-misses, deriving optimism from strong play that left him short of the end goal, he got back to being the one celebrating on the 18th green.

Scheffler had all the answers in Memphis this week, and he left no doubt about who the best player in the world is.

“I felt like I was on repeat all year just being like, ‘Hey, I’m playing solid. I’m close,’” Scheffler said. “It feels good to be answering some different questions at the end of this week.”