'Fight and Claw': Scottie Scheffler Drops Honest Verdict After Battling Sam Burns at TPC Southwind

Scottie Scheffler‘s bunker shot on the par-5 third at TPC Southwind hit a sprinkler head and bounced into the water. Bogey. It’s the sort of break that can wreck a round. Scheffler shook it off, pulled away down the stretch, and won the FedEx St. Jude Championship by eight shots.

Speaking with Amanda Balionis after the win, Scheffler said, “That’s what I’m most proud of I think, is just having the ability to kind of fight and claw my way through things.”

That single line is the closest Scheffler has come to explaining a season defined more by near-misses than trophies. The water ball on the third left him wondering, “When is this going to stop happening?” Yet working through it, not avoiding it, is what he pointed to when asked what stood out about his year. Sunday was that explanation playing out in real time.

He followed a 2-under 68 on Thursday with a 9-under 61 on Friday that tied the course record. Sam Burns, playing alongside him in Sunday’s final group, had closed the gap to two shots with an 8-under 62 of his own on Saturday.

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For a moment after the rocky start at the third, it looked like Burns might make it a contest. Scheffler called facing his close friend a little weird, saying he wanted Burns to succeed just as much as Burns wanted the same for him, even as the two went out to play their normal game and let the day settle itself.

Burns could not hold the pace and shot a final-round 73, finishing tied for third at 8 under. Scheffler answered with a 66 to finish at 17 under, eight strokes clear of runner-up Si Woo Kim, the largest winning margin in the tournament’s 68-year history at TPC Southwind. The previous record, according to the Associated Press, belonged to John Cook, who won at TPC Southwind by seven shots in 1996.

It fits the shape of his whole year. He’s talked about how often he felt he was playing well without the results to show for it, close call after close call. The one real exception was a slow stretch early in the season, outside the Amex, while he was still sorting out some swing issues. He gives a lot of credit to caddie Ted Scott for keeping him level-headed during rounds, and to the rest of his team for helping him hold that form.

The win pushes Scheffler to 21 career PGA Tour victories, making him the third-youngest player to reach that mark behind only Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. He made his professional debut at this same event eight years ago. Asked what advice he would give young players watching him now, he spoke about presence rather than mechanics: not thinking about anything else while at the course, and not wishing he had practiced more once he is home with his family.

There was a lighter note too. Scott’s playoff mustache, which Scheffler said he dislikes, is staying now that it has been paired with a win.

He takes this win, and whatever’s behind it, into the rest of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He’s headed to the BMW Championship with the points lead, having picked up an additional 750 FedEx Cup points for the win, further strengthening his case for Player of the Year. The question now is whether he can keep shrugging off bad breaks as the pressure ramps up.

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