A 68 is enough
Scottie Scheffler did not need anything special. A 68, two under par, was enough for the world No. 1 to keep top spot at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis. He sits on 197, 13 under.
He leads by two shots. Sam Burns and South Korea’s Sungjae Im are the chasers.
It was anything but a quiet day, though. A first bogey came at the fourth. His first birdie did not arrive until the eighth. Another bogey followed at 17 after an approach found the bunker. Two bogeys in the third round, just like the second.
One detail matters. Im, who was playing in the same group, signed for a 67. It is the second time this week he has outscored Scheffler over 18 holes.
Try it for $0.99.
Burns fires a 62
The round of the day came from Sam Burns. A bogey-free 62, with three birdies in a row among the highlights. One afternoon was all it took to go from the background to the title race.
Behind him, Jake Knapp (67) and England’s Tommy Fleetwood (68) share fourth on 8 under. Brian Harman (69), Si Woo Kim (65), Sweden’s Alex Noren (66) and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (67) are bunched on 7 under.
Viktor Hovland went the other way. The Norwegian had joined Scheffler at the top before playing the nine holes from the ninth to the 15th in five over, birdie at 11 included. Two balls sprayed all over the place on the par-4 12th cost him two penalty shots and a 6 on that hole alone. He carded a 72 and is tied 10th on 6 under.
Jordan Spieth signed for the same 72. Co-leader after the opening round, he has slipped back to tied 19th on 4 under.
Seven months without a trophy
Scheffler has not won since The American Express, his first event of the season, back in January. Seven months without a victory, and still the world No. 1. The reason is simple enough: 11 top-10 finishes since the start of the year.
This FedEx St. Jude begins the FedEx Cup playoffs, a three-tournament run. The top 50 in the points race will move on to next week’s BMW Championship. Scheffler arrived with the points lead.
Discover the rest of the golf news on our mathodds website and app!
in your pocket.
Real-time notifications & alerts
Leave a Reply