Nothing seems to rattle the stone-faced World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on the golf course, as he continues to show at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, where he’s back in contention yet again. That includes any winged beasts who attempt to interrupt his stellar play, as we saw on Friday at TPC Southwind.
At the par-4 16th hole, in the midst of a bogey-free second-round 65, Scheffler prepared to hit his approach shot only to stop suddenly and halt his routine, his attention seemingly affixed to something other than the $3.6 million winner’s check he’s playing for this week.
“It was some sort of bug,” Scheffler explained in a press conference following his round, referring to the distraction that faced him on 16. “I don’t know exactly what it was, but it had wings, so I was able to kind of grab it and just kind of move it.”
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An insect interfering with a golfer’s round by landing on a golf ball is no rarity on courses throughout the world come summertime, but usually they can be handled with a simple wave of the hand, as viewers can see on a weekly basis on PGA Tour TV broadcasts.
Why Scheffler took it to the next level is another question.
“It was entertaining because I grabbed both of its wings very gently. I was able to grab it off the ball and it was trying to flutter as I had it by its wings so you could kind of feel it moving,” Scheffler continued, “I just wanted to make sure I put it away from my ball so it wouldn’t be going back on my ball.”
When questioned further, Scheffler assured everyone that he “didn’t kill it.” He also offered an explanation as to why didn’t he just end the possible threat the old-fashioned way.
“I didn’t think I was going to be able to catch it, and then when I did, I was like, I’m not going to kill it now that I caught it,” Scheffler said Friday. “So I just kind of let it fly away.”
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The proof that the moment didn’t shake Scheffler can be found on his scorecard. He finished off the 16th with a birdie and followed it up with another at the 17th, his third red number in a row.
Scheffler will be trying to catch something else on Saturday: the leaders. His sparkling five under on Friday got him within two shots of the co-lead held by Denny McCarthy and Hideki Matsuyama.
Just as he did a few weeks ago during his gold-medal campaign at the Paris Olympics, Scheffler has put himself in position to strike on the weekend, where he’ll be hunting his seventh PGA Tour victory of the year to further cement his place atop the FedEx Cup standings.
