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Even with his lofty status in the golf world in recent years, Scottie Scheffler will be in a bit of a different situation compared to most tournaments this year for the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
He’s the frontrunner after shooting 2-under-par 68 to maintain the lead Saturday in Memphis, Tenn., as he aims for his first victory since January.
“Strategy is still the same, just go out there and execute,” Scheffler said. “This is a golf course where that’s really all it comes down to. I’ll just do my best to go out there tomorrow and be committed and try and execute.”
Scheffler moved to 13-under 197 for a two-stroke lead on Sam Burns and South Korea’s Sunjae Im at TPC Southwind, where the opening event of the FedEx Cup playoffs is taking place.
Burns rose into contention with a bogey-free 62 that included three consecutive birdies at one point.
“You feel like this golf course you get in the fairway a bunch and you feel like you can make a bunch of birdies,” Burns said. “You get in the rough and you feel like you’re scrambling for par.”
Im, who was Scheffler’s playing partner Saturday, posted 67. For the second round in the tournament, Im had a better score than Scheffler.
“I was watching him playing a lot of good shots and learned a lot,” Im said. “Hopefully, I can keep it going.”
This is the first of three tournaments in the PGA Tour’s postseason. The top 50 players in terms of season-long points advanced to next week’s BMW Championship. Scheffler entered this week atop the points standings.
Scheffler hasn’t won since his first tournament (The American Express) of the season yet remains the World No. 1 as he has produced 11 top-10 finishes. His first bogey of the third round came on the fourth hole, and he didn’t post his first birdie of the day until No. 8.
He had another bogey at No. 17 after his approach shot went into a bunker, so he has dealt with a pair of bogeys in both the second and third rounds.
Scheffler will be paired with Burns, who he considers a close friend, on Sunday.
“It’s always a little weird just because I want him to have success so much and I think he wants the same for me,” Scheffler said. “Tomorrow we’ll go out there and play our game and see where things finish up at the end of the day.”
Burns knows what to expect.
“Scottie is obviously playing great, as he always does,” Burns said. “He’s not going to lay down. He’s going to play great tomorrow. So you’re going to have to go out there and put a really good round together and see if you can catch him.”
Jake Knapp (67) and England’s Tommy Fleetwood (68) are tied for fourth place at 8 under.
“I’ve got one more day,” said Fleetwood, who was 2 under through seven holes Saturday. “If we can get off to another fast start, that would be great.”
Brian Harman (69), South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (65), Sweden’s Alex Noren (66) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (67) are all at 7 under.
Harman is outside the top 50 going into Sunday, so he still needs to make headway. He said his worst putting round of the tournament came Saturday.
“It has been a tough year, hasn’t been awesome,” Harman said. “It’s just been kind of one thing or the other. I feel like I’m playing some good golf. Hopefully, it will pop tomorrow. If not, get an extra week at home with the family.”
Norway’s Viktor Hovland briefly caught up to Scheffler before a horrendous stretch that resulted in a 72. He tumbled to a tie for 10th place at 6 under.
Hovland played the ninth through 15th holes in 5 over — and that came with a birdie on No. 11. Two wayward shots on the par-4 12th resulted in a pair of penalty strokes and he carded 6 on the hole.
Jordan Speith, who was a first-round co-leader, also shot 72 on Saturday. He’s at 4 under and tied for 19th.
–Field Level Media
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