With a fill-in caddie, Scottie Scheffler capped his FedEx St. Jude Championship with a 3-under 67 to tie for third and maintain his lead in the FedExCup.
Scheffler’s usual caddie, Ted Scott, who caddied for the first three rounds at TPC Southwind, left Memphis Saturday night because of a family emergency, according to Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis. In stepped Brad Payne, the PGA Tour chaplain, who departed Dallas and arrived in Memphis around 2 a.m. local time.
This was Payne’s second time on Scheffler’s bag in a PGA Tour event, as he also looped on Saturday of last year’s PGA Championship because Scott was home attending his daughter’s high-school graduation.
“It’s definitely a lot different not having Teddy out there,” Scheffler told Lewis after his round. “And obviously, our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family right now. You know, he’s a great friend.
“It was definitely interesting not having him out there on the bag today, but he’s where he’s supposed to be. He’s at home with his family, and we’re all thinking about him.”
Scheffler birdied two of his last three holes Sunday, though ultimately ended at 15 under, a shot out of the playoff between J.J. Spaun and Justin Rose. Putting, where he lost 1.3 strokes to the field in the final round, cost him a shot at his fifth title of the season.
“Did a lot of good stuff, fought pretty hard most of the week,” Scheffler said. “Like I said, today was a day where I executed really well, hit my lines on the greens, hit a lot of good shots going into the greens. Just ball wasn’t going in. Just a little bit off, I guess.”
There was no official word, according to Lewis, as to who would caddie for Scheffler in the BMW Championship, which begins Thursday.
