Sunday Matters: Why you need to see the PGA Tour's FedEx St. Jude Championship finale

There are 18 holes to go in the first leg of the PGA Tour's 2026 FedEx Cup Playoffs, and Sunday's action is sure to provide lots of drama.

After 54 holes at TPC Southwind in Memphis, the top of the leaderboard is loaded with some of golf's biggest stars, but there are also several compelling storylines surrounding the FedEx Cup bubble. Only the top 50 in the season-long points standings will be awarded a tee time at next week's BMW Championship, and there are some notable names with work to do on Sunday.

Here's why you need to tune in to the final round of the 2026 FedEx St. Jude Championship. Here's why Sunday Matters:

FedEx St. Jude Championship leaderboard

The frontunner: Scottie Scheffler

Could this finally be the week?

It feels silly to say that in regards to the No. 1 player in the world, but it's apropos. Scottie Scheffler has been held out of the winner's circle for eight months, which feels like a lifetime for a guy who's won 20 times in the last four seasons.

Scheffler's last victory came at The American Express in January. He's placed in the top five in 10 events since then, including five runner-up finishes. It's been close call after close call for the 30-year-old superstar, but this week feels different. In most of those close calls, Scheffler dug himself a hole early and was trying to chase down the leader on Sunday. This time, he's in front of the pack.

Scheffler got off to a decent start Thursday with a 2-under 68, and repeated that score Saturday. But it was a blistering 9-under 61 on Friday that put him in the driver's seat in Memphis, and now all he has to do is protect his two-shot lead and he'll be hoisting a trophy Sunday afternoon at the FedEx St. Jude Championship ― an event he's never won.

The challengers: Sam Burns, Sungjae Im

Speaking of victory droughts and close calls, Scheffler's two closest pursuers are well-versed in both of those things.

Sam Burns has been on the cusp of a signature victory so many times in the last few years it's hard to keep track. He lost in a playoff at the 2025 RBC Canadian Open, he relinquished a lead on the back-nine at the 2025 U.S. Open, he briefly held the lead on Sunday at the 2026 Masters before finishing T-7, he came within inches of forcing a playoff at the 2026 U.S. Open, then he failed to cash in on a two-shot lead after 54 holes at the 2026 Open Championship.

Burns knows Sunday heartbreak all too well, and even though he's remained a stalwart near the top of the world rankings for many seasons, he's seeking his first win in more than three years. Well, he's once again in a great spot to capture it after torching TPC Southwind to the tune of an 8-under 62 on Saturday. He'll play in the final pairing with his good friend Scheffler, hoping to chase him down and finally get the monkey off his back.

Burns will not only have to try to close the gap on Scheffler, but he'll need to hold off South Korea's Sungjae Im, who has both of those men beat in terms of win droughts.

Im hasn't tasted victory since 2021, but his game has been slowly trending upward all season, and now he finds himself firmly in contention with 18 holes to go at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Im has been Mr. Consistent all week in Memphis, posting rounds of 66, 66 and 67.

And this performance has come at a time when he needed it most. He entered the week on the outside look in, sitting at No. 53 in the FedEx Cup standings. After three rounds at TPC Southwind, he's projected to jump a whopping 18 spots to No. 35, not only punching his ticket to next week's BMW Championship (barring a total collapse Sunday), but giving himself a realistic chance to play his way into the top 30 and extend his streak of consecutive Tour Championship appearances to eight. But it stands to reason that Im is looking for far more than improving upon his points standing. He wants to win, and he's in position to do so.

The reasonable longshot: Hideki Matsuyama

Hideki Matsuyama quietly put together one of the more impressive seasons on the PGA Tour in 2026. He made the cut in all 20 of his regular-season starts and finished inside the top 25 in more than half of those. He entered the week with three straight top-10s and once again finds himself near the top of the leaderboard, albeit six shots off the lead.

But there's one thing that makes Matusyama an especially compelling pick to make a charge. His final round scores in his last three starts: 64, 64, 66. He knows he needs to go deep Sunday, and he knows he can. He won this event in 2024, and if he can post some early birdies and put some pressure on the players in front of him, anything is possible.

The weather: Record heat expected in Memphis

It has been extremely hot and humid all week in Memphis, and Sunday is going to be another absolute scorcher. The forecast calls for sunny skies and a near-record high temperature of 102 degrees, with a heat index well north of 110. And there won't be much wind to speak of either, with a light breeze blowing from the southwest at 5-10 mph.

The holes to watch: Nos. 17 and 18

No. 17 at TPC Southwind is a beast of a par 4, measuring over 500 yards this week and playing as the second-toughest hole at 0.165 strokes over par, on average. Its length requires driver, but pros are forced to sneak their tee shot between a pair of trees that cause the fairway to narrow at about 300 yards. Even a perfect drive right down the center still leaves players with a long iron into a green sloping back-to-front and guarded by two bunkers on the right and three on the left. Par here is a great score.

The only hole that's playing harder than No. 17 this week is the one that follows directly after. The 450-yard par-4 18th is where the tournament can be won or lost, and there's trouble lurking everywhere. Hitting the fairway is essential, as water runs down the entire left side of the dogleg left and bunkers litter the right rough. The approach is a nervy one, too, as that water extends up to the green, which is also guarded by a bunker long and a bunker short-right. The bailout miss is long-right into a collection area of short grass, but the third shot will leave players pitching back into the green that slopes toward the water.

In short, the two most difficult holes at TPC Southwind are the last two, and that's without the pressure of potentially having a $3.6 million winner's check on the line. Expect some serious drama on the closing stretch Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

FedEx Cup standings: Who's on the bubble?

Only the top 50 in the season-long points standings will advance to next week's BMW Championship, the second of three legs in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Here's a look at the last five in and the first five out in the projected standings heading into Sunday's final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship:

FedEx Cup Playoffs schedule

These three events make up the 2026 FedEx Cup Playoffs:

Nick Stavas is a digital producer and commerce writer for Golfweek. Follow him on X/Twitter (@nickstavas).

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Sunday Matters: Why you need to see the PGA Tour's FedEx St. Jude Championship finale