Scottie Scheffler had some struggles to begin Saturday’s round at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but was able to recover and head into the final day with some good news.
Scheffler had a three-shot lead starting the day on Saturday, but shot 1-over par through the first seven holes and faced a surge from Viktor Hovland. Scheffler was able to get back on track after a birdie on the par-3 8th hole, ending the day at 13-under par and a two-shot lead.
Scottie Scheffler Favored to Win FedEx St. Jude Championship
That put the world’s No. 1 golfer in strong position for the opening tournament of the PGA Tour playoffs.
As Robby Kalland of CBS Sports noted, Scheffler was listed as an overwhelming favorite to win the FedEx St. Jude Championship, with Sam Burns and Sungjaue Im as a distant No. 2 and 3.
“The odds list bears out that this has become a three-horse race, with Scheffler unsurprisingly the massive favorite,” Kalland wrote. “He proved on Saturday that he can withstand a slow start and still turn things around mid-round and he will be plenty comfortable playing alongside Burns on Sunday. As deserving as Burns is of a win this season, it’s going to be uphill sledding to reel in and pass Scheffler on a course that seems so well-suited to his game right now.”
As Kalland added, Scheffler is already set to compete in the Tour Championship, so Sunday’s finish will have implications beyond this weekend’s tournament alone.
“Burns and Scheffler have no doubt about whether they’ll be in Atlanta for the Tour Championship, so the final pairing will only care about the win, but the playoff math will be part of the equation for Im, Harman and some of the rest jockeying for a spot in St. Louis next week and Atlanta for the Tour Championship,” Kalland wrote.
Important Cut Looms After Sunday
While there will be little drama on whether Scheffler moves on after Sunday, there could be some jostling for the edge of the top 50 moving on to play in next week’s BMW Championship. Maverick McNealy is currently just above the cut line and said advancing through to the next round has huge implications.
“I’d say the 50 bubble is about as important as it gets on Tour,” McNealy said, via the Guardian. “It triples your earning potential for the next year, it would give me eight more tournaments against the best players in the world, which is about half of my schedule.
“It would give me the ability to know where I’m going to be in a given week because if you’re in the signature events you can pick your schedule. If I have a good round tomorrow I’ll actually be able to pick my schedule, which is something that we’ll fix in ’28 but for 2027 I might not know where I’m going to be the next week.”
Scottie Scheffler Gets Major Career News After Struggle at FedEx St. Jude