Scottie Scheffler ran away from the field Sunday at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, shooting a final-round 66 to finish at 17-under par and win by eight strokes. The victory came at TPC Southwind in Memphis, where no one in the field came close to matching his level of play.
According to a report by Yahoo Sports, Burns, paired with Scheffler in the final group, shot a 73 and finished nine shots behind his friend. He ended the tournament tied for third. To even force a playoff, Burns would have needed to shoot a 64. He never came close.
Scheffler's win was his second of the PGA Tour season. The world number one and four-time major champion entered the day with a comfortable lead and never let up. His eight-stroke margin of victory reinforced his position at the top of the professional game heading into the final stretch of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Burns spoke to the media after his round and was straightforward about what he saw from Scheffler. Asked what he made of his friend's performance, Burns did not hesitate.
"I think everyone knew that coming into the day. I knew he was going to put a solid round together," Burns said. "Honestly it was going to be really difficult — what did he finish, at 17? I would have had to play pretty much a perfect round of golf to have a chance today, and I didn't come close to that. Yeah, he played exactly how I expected him to."
Burns also identified what cost him on the day. His driving was the clearest weakness in a round that otherwise had some bright spots.
"I just looked at my stats for the week. I think I finished — I lost like 2 1/2 strokes off the tee. It's not a golf course you want to do that on," he said. "I just played out of position a lot today. It's a really, really difficult golf course from the rough, and unfortunately, I was in the rough a lot."
Burns added context for where his game stands heading into the following weeks. He had spent the previous three weeks at home with minimal time on the course after the arrival of a newborn. Despite the rough Sunday, he expressed confidence in parts of his game.
"I was just saying, honestly, the last three weeks at home I didn't do a ton of golf. We have a newborn. It was nice to kind of come here and see where my game is. Obviously I have some work to do to get ready for next week with some longer clubs," he said. "Yeah, I hit the ball really nicely with my irons. I putted it good. Overall I feel really good going into the next two weeks."
The FedEx St. Jude Championship is the first of three FedEx Cup Playoff events. The top players in the standings will move on to the BMW Championship next week before the Tour Championship concludes the season.
