Scottie Scheffler Wins FedEx St. Jude Championship by Eight Shots, Locks Up FedEx Cup Top Seed

On Sunday, August 16, 2026, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler turned a two-shot lead into a runaway at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, closing with a 4-under 66 at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, to win by eight strokes and finish at 17-under 263. The victory was Scheffler’s 21st PGA Tour title, his second of the 2026 season, and it locked him in as the No. 1 seed for the FedEx Cup playoffs — the largest margin of victory in the tournament’s 68-year history at TPC Southwind.

Editor’s note: This article draws on match reporting from The Associated Press, the PGA Tour, Sportsnet, and Dallas Morning News coverage, August 16, 2026.

Tournament at a glance

Detail	Information
Event	FedEx St. Jude Championship — FedEx Cup playoffs opener
Dates	August 13–16, 2026
Venue	TPC Southwind, Memphis, Tennessee
Winner	Scottie Scheffler — 17-under 263
Margin	8 strokes (largest in tournament history at TPC Southwind)
Final-round score	4-under 66
Runner-up	Si Woo Kim — 9-under 271 (closed with 68)
FedEx Cup points	750 (playoffs event)
Prize money	$3.6 million (tournament purse: $20 million)

Final-round leaderboard (top five)

Pos.	Player	Final-round	Total	To par
1	Scottie Scheffler	66	263	-17
2	Si Woo Kim	68	271	-9
T3	Sungjae Im	76	275	-5
T3	Sam Burns	73	275	-5
T3	Harris English	68	275	-5

How Scheffler pulled away on Sunday

Scheffler entered the final round two shots clear of Sam Burns and Sungjae Im after holding the 54-hole lead for the first time all season. Playing in the final group in stifling heat and the week’s strongest wind, he matched the best score of the day while his closest pursuers faded.

Im briefly tightened the gap to one shot early in the round. Scheffler responded with consecutive birdie putts on the fifth and sixth holes, re-establishing control and never looking back. Burns shot 3-over 73 and Im 4-over 76 on Sunday, while Scheffler’s ball-striking and putting held firm under pressure.

Si Woo Kim, Scheffler’s Dallas-area neighbor, posted the day’s best chase score with a 68 but still finished eight shots behind. The previous record margin at TPC Southwind was seven strokes, set when John Cook won in 1996.

Turning point	Detail
Start of round	Scheffler led by two over Burns and Im
Early back nine pressure	Im closed to within one shot
Holes 5–6	Consecutive birdies restored Scheffler’s cushion
Closing stretch	Best Sunday score in the field; lead grew to eight

A dominant season finally adds another trophy

For Scheffler, the win ended a stretch of near-misses that had defined much of 2026. His only prior victory this season came in January at The American Express — his first start of the year. Since then, he had compiled five runner-up finishes and five other top-four results without lifting another trophy, despite leading many statistical categories on tour.

The FedEx St. Jude marked his first 54-hole lead of 2026 and his first since holding the claret jug at Royal Birkdale during the 2025 Open Championship. Entering Memphis, Scheffler had spent much of the year chasing the leaders rather than protecting a lead on Sunday — a pattern that flipped in Tennessee.

2026 Scheffler snapshot	Detail
PGA Tour wins	2 (American Express, FedEx St. Jude)
Career PGA Tour wins	21
World ranking	No. 1
Pre-Memphis form	5 runner-ups, 5 other top-4s since January win
Statistical profile	Led or near-led in ball-striking, approach play, and scoring categories

FedEx Cup implications

As the FedEx Cup playoffs opener, the St. Jude carried 750 points toward the season-long standings. Scheffler’s victory secured the No. 1 seed heading into the BMW Championship the following week — a position no rival can overtake before the playoffs conclude.

Beyond the $3.6 million tournament payout, Scheffler clinched an additional $23 million in FedEx Cup bonus funds by locking up the top seed. The playoffs format rewards the regular-season leader with a significant head start, and Scheffler’s Memphis performance made that advantage effectively insurmountable.

The win also set the tone for a playoffs stretch in which Scheffler enters as the clear favorite — not only atop the standings but playing the kind of Sunday golf that has defined his career when the margins matter most.

What comes next

The BMW Championship follows as the second leg of the three-event FedEx Cup playoffs. Scheffler will carry the top seed and the momentum of an eight-shot statement win into the next stop on the tour calendar.

For the rest of the field, Memphis underscored the gap between Scheffler and even a deep PGA Tour roster. Kim ran a solid final round and still lost by eight. Burns and Im, who began Sunday within striking distance, combined to shoot 7 over par in the final round while Scheffler went 4 under.

August 16 belonged to the world No. 1 — a player who had been statistically dominant for months and finally converted that dominance into the kind of runaway victory that only a handful of golfers on tour can produce.

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Discussion

Scheffler’s eight-shot win was the largest in tournament history — but the bigger question is whether it signals the start of a playoffs run that could feel inevitable.

1. Scheffler had five runner-up finishes in 2026 before Memphis. Does an eight-shot FedEx Cup playoffs opener win change how you view his season — or was he already the clear No. 1 regardless of the trophy count?

His stats had been elite for months; Sunday was the first time he protected a 54-hole lead all year. How much does hardware matter when the underlying performance never dipped?

2. With the FedEx Cup top seed and a $23 million bonus effectively secured, how much pressure remains for Scheffler over the final two playoff events?

No one can catch him in the standings before the Tour Championship. Is the BMW Championship still a meaningful test, or does Memphis already settle the season’s biggest prize?

Share your read on whether Scheffler looks unbeatable heading into the rest of the FedEx Cup playoffs — and whether any challenger still has a realistic path.

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