Scottie Scheffler leads favorites as playoffs begin at St. Jude Championship

MEMPHIS — Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 golfer in the world, enters the FedEx St. Jude Championship — the first leg of the season-ending PGA Tour playoffs — on a successful stretch. Scheffler will be coming off 11 consecutive top-10 finishes.

With that momentum, which includes last month's Open title, Scheffler has handled the FedEx Cup playoffs preparation a bit differently than he would have for an event earlier in the season. For Scheffler, at this stage of the golf year, he's finding that less is better.

"That extra practice is maybe only going to be draining for me a little bit, and that's something that I've learned to manage as my career has gone on," he said Wednesday from TPC Southwind, site of the St. Jude Championship. "I would say my prep week last week definitely looked a bit different than it would have looked before the Scottish Open and definitely looked a little bit different than it would have looked if you go back to the beginning of the year when I was coming off injury.

"So making sure I'm rested, ready to play. My game is in a good spot, and I feel like some extra practice at this point in the year can almost be detrimental in terms of just physical and mental fatigue."

The opening tournament of the playoffs features 69 of the top 70 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings, including Scheffler, defending champion Hideki Matsuyama of Japan and resurgent Justin Thomas. Reigning Masters champion Rory McIlroy decided to skip the first leg and is the only eligible golfer among the top 70 sitting out the tournament.

With four wins this season, including two victories in majors, Scheffler is among the favorites. Expected to earn a fourth straight PGA Tour Player of the Year award, he is looking forward to playing on a TPC Southwind course that underwent renovation after last year's St. Judge Championship concluded.

Each of the 18 greens was rebuilt and resurfaced. The tee boxes were also resurfaced, and Bermuda grass around the greens was replaced by tightly mowed Zeon Zoysia.

"They did a good job, I think, with the runoff areas around the greens here," Scheffler said. "The new greens right now are really firm. I think this is a golf course that's typically been pretty popular on Tour, so I appreciated they didn't come in when they renovated it and just completely change the golf course.

"I think they had a really good base for a solid golf course where ball-striking is important. You've got to hit it well around this place. I think they did a really good job. The golf course is healthy. They kept the DNA of what's made this course really good and then enhanced it with some of the pitching areas."

Harris English, enjoying the best year of his career, returns to the site of his first PGA Tour victory. He won the event when it was part of the regular-season schedule in 2013.

"After playing (practice rounds) the last couple days, the improvements obviously with the new greens, the greens are really firm," English said. "I feel like the rough is up from years past. Even (Wednesday), hitting some balls in the rough, it's hard to find them. You get this gnarly Bermuda rough, it's so hard to figure out if it's going to jump, if it's going to come out dead.

McIlroy's absence has created some off-course controversy. He will easily qualify for the second stage of the playoffs next week at the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club near Baltimore, but PGA Tour officials are concerned he elected to bypass the first leg.

Those who finish Sunday ranked in the top 50 not only move on to Baltimore but are also eligible for each of the eight PGA Tour signature events in 2025.

--Phil Stukenborg, Field Level Media