Scottie Schefflerwill head into Sunday at TPC Southwind knowing exactly who he has to beat on Sunday, and exactly how much he doesn’t want to beat him. The world No. 1 heads into the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at 13 under par, holding a two-shot lead over a tie for second at 11 under. And the man sharing that spot with South Korea’s Sungjae Im happens to be one of his closest friends on Tour, Sam Burns. That pairing turns Sunday’s final round in Memphis into something more complicated than a standard closing duel.
Scheffler was asked directly what it’s like to compete against a friend with a title on the line, and his answer set the tone for how he plans to approach the round.
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“It’s always a little weird just because I want him to have success so much and I think he wants the same for me,” Scheffler said.
Once the round starts, he added that the dynamic reverts to business as usual.
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“Tomorrow we’ll go out there and play our game and see where things finish up at the end of the day.”
This will be the first time he is paired with Burns in the final group. And while that tension itself, between personal loyalty and competitive instinct is not new for Scheffler, it arrives at a pointed moment. Scheffler is looking to snap a streak of five runner-up finishes and five other top-four finishes since his lone win of 2026, which came in his first tournament of the year.
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Under Memphis’ heat, he built his overnight advantage the hard way, scrambling for pars as much as he made birdies. A par save on the third hole, after his tee shot found a tree, kept an otherwise messy hole from becoming a costly one.
“Kind of made a mess of the hole and was able to hole a nice putt there for par,” he recalled.
Momentum built again on the par-5 16th, a hole he called reachable and one he said was important to convert heading into the closing stretch, where 17 and 18 punish anything off-line.
Those scrambling putts, several in the 10-to-15-foot range by his own count, did more than save strokes. They kept the round from unraveling on a course where recovery chances are scarce once a ball leaves the fairway.
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“Holing those kind of 10 to 15-footers, it’s really nice to keep the round going,” Scheffler noted.
Whether that composure carries into a final round against a friend is the open question TPC Southwind will answer. Scheffler suggested the format itself won’t change his preparation.
“Strategy is still the same, just go out there and execute,” he said.
He was also asked whether he and Burns would talk before Sunday’s round. Scheffler ruled it out.
“I wouldn’t say texting is one of my strong suits, so probably not,” Scheffler said.
That said, what happens over the next 18 holes at TPC Southwind will determine whether the friendship survives the “little weird” feeling intact, or whether Sunday competition proves stronger than Saturday camaraderie.
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