All the reasons why this weekend at the FedEx Cup means so much

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Ted Scott thought he was done as a caddie. RELATED: Leaderboard | Sahith Theegala wins fans in WM Phoenix Open close call | Winner’s Bag: Scottie Scheffler, WM Phoenix Open The Lafayette, Louisiana, resident had racked up double-digit wins over a long career carrying the bag for Paul Azinger and then, most famously, Bubba Watson. It had been a good run. Then Scottie Scheffler, who birdied the third hole of a sudden-death playoff against Patrick Cantlay to make the WM Phoenix Open his first PGA TOUR victory, hit his radar. Scheffler needed a caddie last fall, and they shared the same faith, which seemed like a good start. “The other thing he said is, ‘I really like competing,’” Scott said. “I said, ‘I like competing. Sounds like it could be a fun thing.’ So, we hashed out the details.” They started at The RSM Classic last November. First round: 63. The rest: forgettable (T57). Faith was at a premium as Scheffler made four bogeys in the middle of the final round Sunday, but he and Scott knew the game was there. After all, this was a player who had hit all 18 greens and shot a best-of-the-week, 9-under 62 just the day before. They just had to hang in there. They did, and the partnership yielded a victory for the first time as Scheffler birdied four of his last six holes in regulation – nearly winning it in regulation from just inside 5 1/2 feet – before ending it with a birdie putt from 25 feet, 7 inches on their third extra crack at the par-4 18th hole. Scott reminded Scheffler that one putt, the miss at the end of regulation, didn’t define him. “Yeah, you know, it’s tough to really say exactly what’s going on between us,” said Scheffler, who goes to fourth in the FedExCup, ninth in the world. “But I think we kind of sit on the same wavelength. We get along really well. He does a good job keeping me level-headed and making jokes and having fun. “He’s a really, really hard worker, which I appreciate,” Scheffler continued. “I have a lot of faith in him as a caddie and I trust him on the golf course, and it really helps me kind of believe in myself. Just having him out there by my side is extremely helpful.” Scheffler, 25, held the outright 54-hole lead at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open last fall before finishing T2. That marked his second career runner-up on TOUR and first since the 2021 World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. But he wasn’t obsessed with winning, seemingly the only thing he hadn’t done after shooting 59 in a TOUR event, coming so close at the WGC-Dell Technologies in Austin, Texas – where he was a star for the University of Texas – and beating world No. 1 Jon Rahm at the Ryder Cup. “The only time I thought about it was when you guys asked about it,” he said of the hole in his resume. Now, though, he’s done it, hoisting his first trophy one week after Tom Hoge broke through at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am and two after Luke List won the Farmers Insurance Open. Scheffler’s victory marks the first string of three straight first-time winners in standalone events on TOUR since Nate Lashley, Mathew Wolff and Dylan Frittelli won the 2019 Rocket Mortgage Classic, 3M Championship and John Deere Classic, respectively. It also validated Scott’s eye for talent, plus a lot of opinions that Scheffler was good enough to win. The caddie’s first indication of how good Scheffler is: Partners Scheffler and Watson tied for eighth in the two-man Zurich Classic of New Orleans last April. Scott, then still on the Watson’s bag, saw the game. Still, it was not until the Ryder Cup last fall, when Scheffler beat Rahm in singles and Scott watched it all on TV, did the caddie realize the full breadth of Scheffler’s skillset. “I was like, Wow, he’s really good,’” Scott said. Now everybody knows it – if they didn’t already. Because friends are the shock absorbers of life, and player and caddie were too united to fall apart even after bogeys on 5, 7, 8 and 12. “We had a lot of fun together even through all the bogeys and stuff,” Scheffler said. “We never felt totally out of the golf tournament, and I looked at him on 14 green, we were only I think maybe two back at the time, and I think I was a little bit surprised still to be that close to the lead. “He just did a good job keeping me in it mentally and keeping me focused on the task at hand.”

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SAN DIEGO — Will Zalatoris and Jason Day charged past Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas on Friday at Torrey Pines to share the third-round lead at the Farmers Insurance Open. RELATED: Full leaderboard | Inside the Field: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am Zalatoris posted the day’s best round with a 7-under 65, and two-time Farmers champion Day shot a 67. They were at 14 under heading to the final round of the tournament, which will finish Saturday. Rahm and Aaron Rai were 13 under, and Thomas, Sungjae Im and Cameron Tringale were another shot back. There were 24 players within five shots of the co-leaders after an eventful moving day. Zalatoris surged from six shots back after two rounds and moved into contention for his first career PGA TOUR victory, yet his round could have been several strokes better if his putter had kept up with the rest of his formidable play. The 25-year-old missed several birdie putts, including a pair inside 5 feet, but stayed in the lead alongside several more accomplished pros. “Obviously, a lot of great vibes here,” said Zalatoris, who made his first career PGA TOUR start as a pro at Torrey Pines in 2018. “This is, I think, by far one of the best golf courses that suits my game. Just keep enjoying it and whatever happens, happens.” Day, who won a playoff in 2018 to claim the Farmers title, finished his third round superbly with four birdies on the final six holes. The Australian former top-ranked pro buried a 27-foot birdie putt on the 16th and got firmly into contention on the course where he also won in 2015. “It’s nice to be able to know that I’ve done it on the golf course twice, not only in regulation but also in playoffs,” said Day, who hasn’t won on TOUR since that playoff victory in 2018. “But tomorrow is a new day, and you don’t know what’s going to come. I’ve just got to get a good rest tonight, get into it tomorrow and just be patient.” Rahm rebounded from a double bogey on the 10th and another bogey on the 12th to stay firmly in contention with a 72 on the course where he got his first PGA TOUR win in 2017 and his first major victory at the U.S. Open last year. “I played great, I think,” Rahm said. “I feel like I played a lot better than the score shows. There was only two holes where I struggled and probably gave a couple too many back. Today is one of those days that happen at Torrey Pines South. Played great golf, but I just couldn’t take the opportunities, and it’s going to be hard to shoot low.” Thomas and Rahm both finished the front nine with dramatic birdie putts. Thomas holed out from 41 feet, and Rahm hit his from nearly 38 feet to the thrilled roars of the gallery. But Thomas missed an 8-foot par putt on the 15th and then took a penalty stroke on the 17th when his drive went in a hazard before finishing his 73. Rahm, Thomas and Adam Schenk shared the lead after two rounds, but Schenk faltered even more with a third-round 75. Rai jumped into contention for his first career PGA TOUR victory by finishing his 68 with back-to-back birdies. The Englishman and former Scottish Open champion is a six-time winner internationally. “It’s always nice to have the validation through results to know that you can compete and your game is good enough,” Rai said. Zalatoris began the third round six shots off the lead, and hold out from 39 yards for eagle on the second hole Friday. He made a 9-foot birdie putt on the fourth, but missed from inside 15 feet on the fifth and from inside 8 feet on the seventh. “Today was the best I’ve ever driven a golf ball by far,” Zalatoris said. After saving par on the 11th with an exceptional 40-foot shot from the rough to within 4 inches, Zalatoris barely missed a birdie putt from inside 17 feet on the 12th before missing a 3-footer on the 13th, a 12-footer on the 15th and a 14-footer on the 16th. Zalatoris then followed up an exceptional second shot on the 17th by badly missing a birdie from inside 4 feet, but finished his round by saving par from a bunker. “I think really the two that I left out there today, I just didn’t commit to playing outside the hole,” Zalatoris said. “So I think that’s something that definitely tomorrow, just commit to it, and hey, if it bounces in, it bounces in. If it bounces out, it bounces out.”

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