Southwind Gets Torched for a 61

👋 {{readername | Hey, golf fans}},

Good morning. While you were busy planning your weekend, Scottie Scheffler shot a course record, kicked Jordan Spieth from the top spot, and built a three-stroke cushion at the top of the FedEx St. Jude Championship leaderboard. Meanwhile, a few wild bears wanted to watch (or play) golf, but their requests were not entertained, and an experienced caddie is helping an amateur run riot.

Let’s get swinging…

Ludvig Aberg says we are being unfair with Scottie Scheffler. Here is his reason.

Well, Ludvig, what can the world do if Scottie goes and shoots a course record of 61? He opened with five straight birdies and ended the round with three straight circles on his scorecard. Two bogeys in between stood as the sign of TPC Southwind fighting back. Or at least trying to.

Those two bogeys meant Scottie missed out on a 59 for the second time in what feels like just a week. Now, folks, remember what he said after the first round? It’s a course that punishes you. It did, but Scottie made 13 one-putts and overcame the challenge.

His playing partner, Rory McIlroy—yes, they were paired in last year’s Tour Championship and had this pretty funny moment—wasn’t so lucky. Rory shot 74 and 70 and now sits at T60. His playoff future isn’t under threat, but Rory’s unsavory record at TPC Southwind won’t get any better.

Outside of these two, Friday saw a lot of movement. Here is a quick snapshot:

The FedEx St. Jude Championship is starting today, but can you tell which golfer won this tournament back-to-back? 87% of our readers failed to answer correctly.

Intruders: Now look, tournaments get suspended all the time. Darkness. Rain. Thunderstorm. But a professional tournament getting suspended because… bears want to tend the flag? Now we don’t know whether they wanted to just watch pros play or participate in it as well, but yes, the round had to be suspended because of them. Here is more on the wacky situation.

Winners: Other than Nelly Korda, the LPGA has really witnessed a dearth of American winners this season. The Standard Portland Classic, at the last leg of the season, doesn’t offer much hope either. Other than Sophia Schubert (-11/T2) and Rose Zhang (-9/T5), no one is in the top ten. And the tournament has a history of crowning overseas winners. Andrea Lee in 2022 was the last American winner here.

Surprise pairing: Carter Loflin is the most surprising name at the U.S. Amateur semifinals. But what's his secret? Jack Hopkins. He has been caddying at Merion for 37 years and is helping Loflin navigate the course like a seasoned expert. Hear Loflin bring a Scottie-Ted Scott reference to talk about his dynamic with Hopkins. Oh, the Georgia Senior also arrived at the presser in a flip-flop—watch it here.

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Last Poll Result: 91.70% of you said the PGA Tour should put individual pros on the clock instead of the entire group.

In the funny world of trackers—the social media accounts that have now become an interesting source of information about golfers—a Jordan Spieth platform is joining forces with a bigger name. Some of you must be familiar with Nuclr Golf; for those of you who are not, go check them out here. Now Spiethcamp, a new social media account, will be part of the wider network. The management purchased it for $75, and now they decided to elevate it. For the Spieth fans among you, that means one more way to look at what the maverick is doing on the course. On that note, he hit a porta-potty on Thursday and still saved par.

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