Scottie Scheffler shot a second-round 61 at the FedEx St Jude Championship on Friday to seize a three-shot lead at the halfway point, moving to 11 under par and putting the PGA Tour leaderboard firmly in his hands. He started with five successive birdies, absorbed bogeys at the eighth and 12th holes, then closed with four birdies in his last five holes.
The score matched the course record at TPC Southwind, a mark that underlines how quickly Scheffler turned the opening playoff event into his stage. He said he wanted to get off to a good start, called the opening stretch a dream start and said his swing had felt really good over the past couple of weeks, especially playing at home.
For Tommy Fleetwood, the day was steadier than spectacular. He carded a bogey-free 68 to remain on six under, and said he had played a very patient round of golf. Fleetwood also noted that it was nice to be going into the weekend in a good position, but he was blunt about the gap in front of him, saying the task was simply to manage his game as best as possible and chase Scheffler if the chance came.
That chase is made harder by what happened behind the leader. Rory McIlroy finished with a level-par 70, bogeyed his last two holes after reaching the 17th on two under for the day, and sat tied for 62nd in the 69-strong field on four under after two rounds. Sungjae Im and Viktor Hovland were the nearest threats, but both trailed Scheffler by three shots as the weekend arrived.
The setting matters because this is the opening event of the FedEx Cup playoffs, where only the top 70 in the standings reached the FedEx St Jude Championship, the top 50 will move on to the BMW Championship and the top 30 will advance to the Tour Championship. There is no cut here, so McIlroy still has two rounds left to recover, but the shape of the leaderboard leaves Scheffler with the clearest path and everyone else trying to force him into a mistake.
The third round is scheduled to be shown live on Sky Sports Golf from 4pm on Saturday, and the question now is not whether Scheffler has control, but whether anyone can make him give it up.
