By Doug Ireland, Journal Sports
MEMPHIS – After a sensational 62 Saturday lifted him into a final group pairing with his pal Scottie Scheffler, Sam Burns’ final round at the FedEx St. Jude Championship Sunday quickly went awry.
Choudrant’s PGA Tour star began Sunday tied for second, two shots behind Scheffler’s 13-under par. A double bogey on the third hole, his second in three days there, started a skid that produced a 3-over 73 over the final 18, and dipped him to a third-place tie at 8-under (67-70-62-73 – 272).
Scheffler also started slowly but found his groove and carded a finishing 66 when the average score was over par (70.56, nearly a stroke higher than any of the first three rounds). The 66 was the second-lowest total Sunday as he claimed his second win of the season and 21st career, making him the third-youngest golfer ever (behind Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus) to reach that milestone.
After doubling the par-5 third, Burns added a bogey two holes later. He birdied the par-3 seventh, but bogeys at 10 and 13 killed any chance, although he steadied with birdies at 14 and the par-5 16th. He finished with a bogey on 18, his third in four days on the closing hole.
It was in stark contrast to Saturday’s 8-under card, including six birdies on the front side and a par on 18.
“Honestly, I don’t think it would have mattered even if I played well,” Burns said. “(Scheffler) was going to be really hard to beat today, and unfortunately, I played not very good. He played exactly how I expected him to.“
Scheffler finished 17 under, eight shots clear of second-place Si Woo Kim. Only five pros in history have recorded two or more wins by at least eight shots (Woods had 10, three others before Sunday had a pair). It was the second in the Texan’s career. As it turned out, Burns would have needed a final-round 64 to force a playoff, but with poor driving (hitting only 5 of 14 fairways Sunday), and a toughened course, that was out of reach.
“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.
“Honestly, the last three weeks at home I didn’t do a ton of golf. We have a newborn. It was nice to 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. I hit the ball really nicely with my irons. I putted it good.
“Overall I feel really good going into the next two weeks,” he said. “It was nice to come here, have a good week and jumpstart the playoffs.”
The top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings advanced to the second playoff event, the BMW Championship up the Mississippi River in St. Louis beginning Thursday at Bellerive Country Club. The top 30 in the standings after next Sunday reach the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta
Burns edged up two spots, from eighth to sixth, in the FedEx Cup race and will play in Atlanta for the sixth straight year.
He collected $1.16 million for third at Memphis, raising his season’s earnings to a career-best $8.7 million including four top five finishes in 18 starts.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com
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