After five runner-up finishes this season, Scottie Scheffler entered the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship with a two-stroke lead and a hope of winning his second title in 2026. However, he lost one stroke off his cushion because of no obvious error of his own.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The bizarre incident unfolded on the par-5 third. The World No. 1 started with a 311-yard drive to the left fairway. He followed it with a 238-yard shot, but it landed in the left bunker. This was not that big a challenge, though, as the American professional knew exactly what he had to do.
With three strokes remaining and only 59 ft 7 in to the hole, Scheffler took a chip shot. Unfortunately for him, the ball hit a sprinkler head on the first bounce, picked up pace, went past the hole, and plunged into the water.
“Oh no, it was a sprinkler head. Get down, get down. No way. And that falls into the water. That is unbelievable. That is one of the worst breaks I’ve seen all year. My goodness, watch this right off the head, and the head is angled away from him, so it picks up even more speed. What just happened? I mean, obviously, if it misses the sprinkler head, I think it’s…,” CBS commentators are heard saying in complete disbelief in an X post shared by the PGA Tour.
This led to a penalty and a drop in the right rough. He then took his fifth shot, which landed 2 ft 6 in from the hole. The final result was a bogey, where Scheffler could have easily managed an even par, if not a birdie.
The 20-time PGA Tour winner has performed brilliantly so far at the $20 million St. Jude Championship. He opened with a round of 2-under 68, which comprised three birdies and a bogey. He followed it with a record-tying round of 9-under 61. Scheffler started the second round with five consecutive birdies from holes one through five. From holes 6 through 18, he scored six more birdies and only two bogeys.
His third round was again a 2-under 68, this time with four birdies and two bogeys. In the final round, he started with two on-par scores, then a bogey on the third. However, he recovered with a birdie on the par-four fifth.
His path to contention has been steep. In 2022, he missed the cut here entirely. The only missed cut he has had since then came at the 2026 Genesis Scottish Open. However, his performance has only continued to improve since then. After the missed cut, he carded 67-66-71-70 to finish T31 in 2023. In 2024, he shot 14-under 266 (66-65-69-66) for solo fourth.
Last year, he took it a notch further for T3 on the leaderboard after rounds of 67-66-65-67 for 15-under 265. This year, he is in strong contention to win his 21st PGA Tour title. Through six holes so far, he is right at the top with a 14-under par score. Behind him on the leaderboard is Sungjae Im, his playing partner. While Im is second on the leaderboard, there’s a massive five-stroke difference between his and Scheffler’s scores.
While the incident on the third hole was unfortunate, the World No. 1 has recovered and continued the strong momentum he has carried throughout the tournament.