Once again, the best player on the planet put in a masterful performance at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Scottie Scheffler put himself in great position after 36 holes on Friday, shooting a bogey-free 5-under 65. He’s at 9-under par for the tournament, two strokes behind leaders Hideki Matsuyama and Denny McCarthy.
“It’s good to have a clean card,” Scheffler said.
“No bogeys. I had some good ups and downs and was able to keep the momentum going through the round. I had a good putt for par on the fifth early in the round and then a couple of good chip shots that got me close to the hole and turned what could have been a frustrating par into a pretty stress-free par with some good pitches. Overall, it was a pretty good day.”
Scheffler started well with his first birdie of the day on the par-5 third hole and then another birdie on the par-3 eighth hole, but he had seven pars in his first nine holes to finish in 2-under 33.
Scheffler started well yesterday, scoring four birdies in his first six holes to quickly move into contention for the win, but unlike Thursday, Scheffler got going late, scoring three consecutive birdies on the 15th, 16th and 17th holes to move to nine under par and put himself back in the lead.
“I think you have to play really great golf to post low scores,” Scheffler said of TPC Southwind.
“You have a chance. The greens aren’t that firm. You can attack when you’re in the fairway. But there’s a fair amount of water on the course. The Bermuda rough can be hard to judge and there’s a lot of trees. There’s trouble all around so you’ve really got to be playing your best to get a low score.”
It’s no secret that Scheffler is having a great season, performing well almost every week. He’s won six times, including at Augusta National and TPC Sawgrass. He also won the gold medal with arguably the best round of his career, a 9-under 62 in the final round. But he picked up where he left off in Paris, shot 66 and 65 in Memphis and is back in contention for the title.
He was flawless again, which raises the question of whether he can win Memphis for the seventh time. It wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
