Once again, the best player on the planet turned in a masterful performance at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Scottie Scheffler carded a bogey-free, 5-under 65 on Friday to put himself in a terrific position through 36 holes. He sits at 9-under par for the tournament, two strokes back of co-leaders Hideki Matsuyama and Denny McCarthy.
“It’s just nice to have a clean card,” Scheffler said.
“No bogeys, did a good job of having some nice up-and-downs to keep the momentum and the round going. I holed a nice putt for par early in the round on 5, and then I had a couple of nice chips after that, getting it close to the hole, making what could have been a stressful par into a pretty stress-free par with some nice pitches. Overall, it was a pretty good day.”
Scheffler had a benign start, making his first birdie of the day at the par-5 3rd. Another followed at the par-3 8th, but he posted seven pars on his opening nine to go out with a 2-under 33.
The day before, he made four birdies over his first six holes, immediately vaulting himself into contention thanks to his hot start. But unlike Thursday, Scheffler caught fire down the stretch, making three straight birdies on the 15th, 16th, and 17th holes to climb up to 9-under and re-assert himself among the leaders.
“I think you’ve got to be playing some really great golf to shoot a low score,” Scheffler said of TPC Southwind.
“There’s opportunity out there. The greens aren’t super firm. You can attack when you’re in the fairway. But there’s a good amount of water on the course. The Bermuda rough can be tough to judge and there’s a good amount of trees, as well. There’s trouble around, so you’ve got to be really on top of your game to shoot low scores.”
It’s no secret that Scheffler has had an incredible season, as he continues to be on top of his game pretty much every week. He has amassed six victories, which includes wins at Augusta National and TPC Sawgrass. He also won a gold medal, thanks to a final round 9-under 62 that may have been the best round of his career. But he has picked up right where he left off in Paris, shooting a 66 and a 65 in Memphis to vie for another title again.
He’s playing flawless once more, which leads to us to ask, will win number seven come in Memphis? It would surprise absolutely nobody if it does.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
