Scottie Scheffler, the guy currently lording it over the golf world, has once again shown that TPC Southwind isn't so much a battlefield for him as a rather pleasant park stroll. His win at the St. Jude Championship felt less like a desperate struggle and more like a leisurely amble, ending with an eight-stroke drubbing of everyone else. Honestly, you start to wonder if the other fellas even got the memo that this was supposed to be a championship.
Scheffler’s performance, to crib from Shakespeare, was "a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying... well, a fat check and a bonus that could buy a small island, if we're being brutally honest." He shot a final-round 66, which sounds more like a relaxed Sunday brunch than the nail-biting finish to a season-long competition. Si Woo Kim, bless his heart, snagged second place. That’s like being the runner-up in a marathon when the winner decided to take a nap halfway through.
The only real flicker of excitement, if you can even call it that, came from a rogue sprinkler head on the third hole. Scheffler’s approach shot careened off this metallic nuisance, resulting in a ball that looked about as comfortable as a goldfish on a hotplate, rolling off the green and toward the water. A bogey, the lone smudge on an otherwise spotless scorecard, was the outcome. It’s the golf equivalent of finding a tiny pebble in your shoe – annoying, but easily fixed with a bit of focus and a few well-placed birdies.
And fix it he did. Five birdies followed that minor detour into the ordinary. It seems the world number one’s putter decided it quite liked the look of the hole, especially from 15 to 20 feet. He even sank three from beyond 20 feet on Sunday. You can only imagine the other players watching, possibly contemplating a career change to something decidedly less… damp, like competitive napping.
This victory, his first at TPC Southwind after a few previous tries that only managed a tie for third, just cements Scheffler’s grip on the game. His Strokes Gained: Putting numbers were ridiculous, adding almost nine shots to his score on the greens alone. It’s a level of skill that borders on the absurd, leaving us regular folks to scratch our heads and wonder about the strange physics of greens and the sheer cheekiness of that little white ball.
With enough points locked up to guarantee he leads the FedEx Cup standings, Scheffler has basically punched his ticket to golfing immortality for the season. The BMW Championship and the Tour Championship now feel less like actual tournaments and more like extended victory parades. I’m half expecting him to pick out his victory champagne with the same steely resolve he uses on the greens.