Authored By: Adrian Rosati

Photo By: Chris Waugaman. Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Accessed via wikimediacommons.com.

Ryan, take a victory lap for the smart but safe pick here! Scheffler has officially completed the playoff treble, if you will, after a masterful Friday performance of 9-under par propelled him to the top of the leaderboard. From there, he held onto the lead the rest of the way.

Scheffler extended his streak to 11 straight events in which he entered Sunday with at least a share of the lead and went on to win the tournament. Rory, on the other hand, could only wish.

Scheffler stayed fairly even-keeled over his other three rounds, shooting no better than 4-under in any of them. A big reason he was able to pull it off was the poor play from those chasing him on Sunday.

Sam Burns started just two shots back of Scheffler but shot 3-over on Sunday, which has unfortunately become a familiar trend for him. A disappointing fall-off came from Sungjae Im, who also started two shots behind Scheffler but proceeded to shoot 4-over on Sunday, paving the way for a dominant Scheffler victory.

Beyond that, many of the golfers who posted under-par rounds started at least five shots back, meaning that even a few strokes under par made little difference in the grand scheme of things.

Scottie has now moved to second on the all-time PGA Tour career money list at $119 million after collecting the $3.6 million first-place prize at St. Jude. He can pass Tiger Woods for first on the all-time money list with a win this upcoming week.

Scheffler is also the third-youngest player, behind Tiger Woods (24 years, 6 months) and Jack Nicklaus (27 years), to reach 21 PGA Tour victories. Scheffler accomplished the feat at 30 years and 1 month old.

Notable  Standout Performances

Notable good scores this tournament included Jackson Koivun (-3), Jake Knapp (-6), and Wyndham Clark (-7).

Koivun finishing inside the top 25 in his first career playoff event is certainly something to celebrate. He passed several notable golfers with a good under-par tournament for a rookie.

Knapp had his best week since returning from injury at the U.S. Open. He finished inside the top 10 for the first time since the Houston Open in March.

Clark started off hot despite a disappointing weekend, giving himself a chance to bounce back after being cut in consecutive tournaments over the previous two weeks. He appears to have regained the hot hand he showed earlier in the year.

Notable Poor Performances

Notable poor scores included Cameron Young (E) , Rory McIlroy (+8), and Robert MacIntyre (+12).

For Cam Young, he simply never got off the ground. When your best score in a single round is 1-under, you are unfortunately destined for a difficult weekend. This continues a skid of poor play for the world No. 3, who will be hoping for a bounce-back performance next week.

Rory, on the other hand, started with a 4-over round on Friday and couldn’t get under par at all. He would later shoot 2-over on both Saturday and Sunday for an ugly overall number.

In Rory’s defense, he hasn’t played a ton this year. I am personally hoping he can bounce back, as he remains one of the most powerful players in the game.

And then Bobby Mac — woah, Nelly, what a Round 1.

MacIntyre shot a brutal 12-over in the opening round before withdrawing from the tournament. It remains to be seen whether we will see him again this upcoming week, as he cited a knee injury as the reason for the withdrawl. Presumably, he aggravated it significantly enough during the round to be granted it by the Tour.

With the season coming to a quick close, it would not be surprising to see him shut things down for the remainder of the year.

Fed Ex Cup  Standings Key Changes Heading Into the BMW

Keith Mitchell has officially been eliminated from the FedEx Cup playoffs after falling from 49th to 51st in the standings. Meanwhile, Sungjae Im jumped from 53rd to 40th, securing his spot in the BMW Championship this weekend.

Expert Picks

Here, we rank our experts from most to least trustworthy.

Ryan Smith — 10 points (1-1-0)
Tied 2nd with Hutson at Wyndham | Picked Scottie Scheffler correctly to win St. Jude

How sweet it is! Scottie started out hot and never looked back. He was due, and Ryan delivered a marvelous pick this week.

Jonathan Hutson — 5 points (0-2-0)
Tied 2nd with Smith at Wyndham

Sam Burns was in position to put pressure on Scheffler to win this week, but he had a poor Sunday on what is unfortunately becoming a trend for him.

He played really well overall, but the six dropped shots on Sunday were the difference between finishing at 8-under and 14-under, which would have put him just three shots off the lead and potentially put some pressure on Scottie to deliver.

In hindsight, it still would not have been enough to win, but a solo second certainly looks a lot better than a T3.

Adrian Rosati — 5 points (1-0-1)

Man, did I overthink using Justin Thomas (JT) this week or what?

JT was the only golfer among the expert picks to finish the week over par. Going into Saturday, I was pleased with his play and the pick, but he turned a 3-under 36-hole start into a nightmare, shooting 5-over  as the weekend progressed, dropping shots like flies on a humid summer night, early and often.

Between the bogeys and doubles, JT accounted for 10 dropped shots over the weekend alone, compared to just five birdies.

I certainly didn’t think the wheels would fall off that quickly, although by that point Scottie was already eight shots ahead of him heading into the weekend. I think JT can bounce back, but he certainly doesn’t have the momentum on his side.

Keep your eyes open for our BMW Championship preview, releasing tomorrow or Wednesday, for some insight into our thoughts heading into the middle event of the playoffs!