Scottie Scheffler, recent gold medalist at the Paris Games and overwhelming World Number One, faces one of his nemeses this week, the TPC Southwind, venue of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, first play off of the FedEx Cup 2024.
Nemesis? It can be called that, especially if we take into account Scottie’s excellent results. We have to go back a decade to find the beginning of the story between the course and the player. Scheffler made his debut at the TPC Southwind at the tender age of 17, two weeks before turning 18, in June 2014, playing as an amateur the second tournament of his career on the PGA Tour (FedEx St. Jude Classic), obviously with an invitation. He missed the cut with rounds of 71 and 76 strokes and a cumulative of +7 on this par 70. Well, it is assumed that such a result cannot be held against him, given his youth and inexperience…
But after that beardless debut, the Texan has played five more times on this course and his records have not been as brilliant as one might expect, quite the opposite in some cases. To start with, it should be noted that this week marks two years since Scheffler last missed a cut and it happened precisely at the TPC Southwind, in the dispute of the same tournament that is played this week, the FedEx St. Jude, first play off of the FedEx Cup. By the way: to that appointment, exactly two years ago, he also arrived as World Number One, just like this week.
He has never made it into the top ten in a tournament played at the TPC Southwind, which is almost strange for a player who has practically finished in the top ten in half of the tournaments he has played in his career on the PGA Tour (57/127). He records a 43rd place in the FedEx St. Jude Classic 2018, and solid performances in the two WGCs that were played on the Memphis course in 2020 and 2021, but without grabbing any spotlight (he was 15th in 2020 and 14th in 2021). Finally, it should be noted the 31st place in which he finished last year in the first play off of the FedEx Cup. Nothing out of the ordinary, as you can see, according to the standards of the Number One. Yes: the label of nemesis seems appropriate, even though his average strokes in the twenty competition rounds he has played at the TPC Southwind are below par (69.15, par 70). The weight of the purple. Let’s hope that this Sunday we are talking about something diametrically opposite, as there is nothing that motivates Scheffler more than removing thorns.
Two years ago, we said, this extraordinary player last missed a cut. In this time, counting that FedEx St. Jude in which he did not play the weekend, he has played 45 tournaments, although fourteen of them were without a cut (oh, what a pity this unstoppable drift causes). And it is always interesting (and very fun) to review his numbers: in these 45 tournaments he obtained ten victories, five second places and seven thirds. That is, in 22 of 45, almost half, he finished in the top 3. In addition, he adds in this time 34 top ten and has signed six top ten in the eight Majors he has played, including his victory in the Masters 2024.
One last note: just this week Scheffler also completes one hundred accumulated weeks as World Number One. Let’s remember that only four players before him had reached a three-digit figure in this section (Tiger Woods, Greg Norman, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy). The world ranking dates from 1986, but it is estimated that only four other players would have reached that sum of three-digit weeks as World Number Ones since the middle of the last century: Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson and Severiano Ballesteros. Nick Faldo could be added, no one else. This is the caliber of gentlemen he already hangs out with…
