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Scottie Scheffler sits five back as Akshay Bhatia shoots career-best 62 to lead FedEx St. Jude Championship

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Akshay Bhatia had a blazing finish to get his PGA TOUR postseason off to a good start, closing eagle-birdie-birdie for an 8-under 62 to post his career low and take a one-shot lead over Tommy Fleetwood in the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Scottie Scheffler, playing for the first time since winning The Open Championship for his second major of the year, made bogey on the final hole for a 67, his 10th straight round in the 60s.

Bhatia comes into the FedExCup Playoffs at No. 45, with only the top 50 advancing to the second of three tournaments in the lucrative postseason. The idea is to be among the top 30 who reach East Lake for a shot at the $10 million bonus.

He was paired with Harry Hall of England, who is at No. 44. Hall was matching Bhatia until the final two holes, when Bhatia rolled in a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th and stuffed a short iron into 2 feet on 18.

Bhatia said he has been spending too much time thinking about numbers, whether it’s his score or his world ranking or his position in the FedExCup. The goal is to keep his mind peaceful.

“I felt pretty relaxed, and I’m just not trying to force anything,” he said. “It’s OK to get mad at golf shots but not at yourself.”

Justin Rose and Bud Cauley, who is at No. 53, also were at 64 on a TPC Southwind that has 18 new greens and a course with much thicker rough.

Fleetwood is all but set for the FedExCup finale at No. 9, though he would love to get that first PGA TOUR title to go along with DP World Tour wins against strong fields. He hit 13 out of 14 fairways, and the one he missed led to a birdie when he holed a bunker shot on No. 9.

“People talk about this golf course as a second-shot golf course, but it’s only a second-shot golf course if you’re in the fairway,” Fleetwood said. “I hit the ball so well off the tee that I was always giving myself an opportunity.”

And then it helped to see the putts drop, four straight birdies to close out his round.

Fleetwood has the right outlook for this postseason series. Asked if he looked at the three weeks as one big event or each tournament on its own, Fleetwood said, “(It’s) really day to day.”

Projections can fluctuate with shots from anyone on any part of the course. Rickie Fowler, who missed the top 70 who qualify for the postseason last year, came in at No. 64 and shot 66, which projects him inside the top 50.

Jordan Spieth was at No. 48. He had to rally on the back nine for a 69 that put him out of the top 50, and then back to No. 50 by the end of the day.

Scheffler is assured the No. 1 seed for at least another week. He looked plenty sharp, giving himself a lot of looks at birdie and converting four of them. He missed out on a good birdie chance at the par-5 16th when he drove into the rough and sent the next shot into a bunker about 100 yards short of the green. He also took three putts from 70 feet on the final hole.

“Today was a good day. I did some solid stuff,” Scheffler said. “Felt like I was close to playing a really great round but ended up with a solid round. Overall a decent start.”

This is one of the more important weeks of the PGA TOUR because of what’s at stake. Not only do the top 50 advance to the BMW Championship, but they are assured of being in all the $20 million Signature Events for next year.

Among those on the bubble, Si Woo Kim (No. 46) opened with a 65 and former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark had a 67.

“It’s kind of like dicey spot right now,” Kim said. “And started struggling, so I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can get through to next week.’ But tried to keep it as simple as possible, and that helps me a lot. I had a great round, so hopefully I’ve got more room the next couple days. Just trying to make it simple and not much think about next week.”

Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, who might be the first playing captain since 1963, opened with a 72. Bradley is No. 10 in the Ryder Cup standings. He played with Maverick McNealy, who is 11th in the standings. McNealy shot 66.

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Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper to play qualifiers in opening round at Flushing Meadows

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The draw is set for the US Open with Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper meeting qualifiers in the opening round at Flushing Meadows; the US Open is live on Sky Sports Tennis and Sky Sports+, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app from August 24

British stars Emma Raducanu and Jack Draper will both play qualifiers in their opening matches at this year’s US Open.

Raducanu, who could face former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the third round, will be first on Louis Armstrong Stadium as the tournament begins on Sunday, live on Sky Sports from 4pm.

Draper appears set to start his campaign on Monday as he looks to build on the success he enjoyed at Flushing Meadows last year. But he could meet defending champion Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals if both win through.

Both Raducanu and Draper must await the completion of the qualifying tournament on Friday evening before learning the identity of their first-round opponents.

Back at the top of the British rankings, Raducanu is playing probably some of her best tennis since her remarkable US Open triumph in 2021 – although that bar is lower after a turbulent few years due to injury.

Her informal coaching arrangement with Mark Petchey appeared to be working, with the 22-year-old enjoying a run to the semi-finals of the Washington Open, but she has now brought in Rafael Nadal’s former coach Francis Roig ahead of the Grand Slam in New York.

Spanish coach Roig worked alongside Nadal and with Nadal’s uncle Toni for the majority of his career, where he won 22 Grand Slam titles.

The other British women have been handed tough draws, with Katie Boulter taking on 27th seed Marta Kostyuk and Sonay Kartal meeting 11th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.

Draper warmed up for the singles tournament reaching the mixed doubles semi-finals, with him and Jessica Pegula beating Raducanu and Carlos Alcaraz along the way.

World No 5 Draper is hoping to be a force this year. In 2024 he reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows before losing to eventual champion Sinner.

Ahead of the tournament he had to withdraw from events in Toronto and Cincinnati due to a forearm injury, but has now recovered ahead of this US Open return.

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Scottie Scheffler on what’s ‘taken a lot’ out of him ahead of the Tour Championship, it affected his preparation

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Scottie Scheffler revealed that something has taken a lot out of him in the build up to the Tour Championship.

The PGA Tour is set for its final event of the postseason – the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club. 30 of the best golfers on the PGA Tour will battle it out over four days to become the FedEx Cup champion.

Scottie Scheffler enters the championship as world number one, and leads the FedEx Cup standings by a considerable margin over Rory McIlroy in second. He beat Robert MacIntyre to win the BMW Championship last week, and now seeks to retain his FedEx Cup title.

But his preparation has been affected by something that he admitted has taken a lot out of him.

Scottie Scheffler said being in contention takes a lot out of him

Scheffler has had a historic year. He won the Open Championship and PGA Championship to move a U.S. Open away from the career grand slam, won the FedEx Cup regular season running away, and has cemented his status as the world’s best golfer.

Scheffler’s season has been compared to Tiger Woods and drawn plaudits from Phil Mickelson, such has been his dominance.

Every tournament feels like Scheffler vs the field. He’s in contention week in, week out, and has shown no signs of slowing down. Or so we thought. The American said that this weekend his focus is on rest, as his 2025 dominance has taken a lot.

Speaking to the Golf Channel, he admitted, “After having a week like last week, it takes a lot out of you being in contention. So going into this week I’m focusing on rest for the first couple of days. I’m going to get used to the speed of the greens and get used to the bunkers and the rough.

“I’m not going to be hitting a lot of balls on the driving range. I’m going to play nine holes and do my putting and chipping and then I’m going to get out of here.

“A little bit of a different prep work than a normal week but that’s just because I feel like my game’s in a good spot and I need rest going into this week.”

That’s great news for the rest of the field, especially with the new format pulling Scheffler ever closer.

Scottie Scheffler happy with new Tour Championship format, despite suffering disadvantage

In previous years, Scheffler would have started the Tour Championship with a two-shot advantage as the FedEx Cup leader. This year, the format has changed, and everyone starts from zero. But a confident Scheffler said this format is better for the sport.

“The last few years have been an unusual format. I gave up my handicap this year which is a little different. I much prefer this format. I think having a really good golf tournament to finish off our year is the way to do it, and the way the format was the last couple years, I didn’t think it was a great tournament.”

Giving a two-shot lead to Scheffler is effectively giving him the win. Now, the likes of McIlroy, Fleetwood, and St. Jude Championship winner Justin Rose are all in contention to win the coveted prize.

With Scheffler taking it easy in the first few days, a hot start for any of the world’s best players could give them a significant advantage.

 

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2025 Tour Championship picks, odds: Can anybody upset Scottie Scheffler at East Lake?

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The 2025 PGA Tour season concludes this weekend at East Lake in Atlanta, Ga., and, if we’re being honest, they should just crown Scottie Scheffler the FedEx Cup Champion and save us all the trouble.

Scheffler erased a four-stroke deficit Sunday to win the BMW Championship, giving the World No. 1 his fifth win and 15th top-10 finish in 18 starts this season.

Those results are historic, but he’ll only be crowned as this season’s champion if he can win this week’s Tour Championship.

In previous formats, Scheffler would start the Tour Championship at 10-under par, but the powers that be have decided to do away with starting strokes and put all 30 players on even par for the 2025 iteration.

Not only does that level the playing field, but it also makes this tournament a lot more fun for bettors, who, like casual fans, were pretty tired of the old format.

Even without the head start, Scheffler is a whopping +150 favorite at DraftKings, well ahead of Rory McIlroy (+850), Tommy Fleetwood (14/1), Ludvig Aberg (18/1) and Russell Henley (20/1).

Despite his Tiger-esque odds, you can feel pretty confident that Scheffler will be the most popular bet behind the window this week – and don’t let me stand in your way if that’s your speed – but we’ll pick out a few long shots who look like they’re primed to make some noise in the curtain-closer.

If you’re a regular reader of our Wednesday golf picks, you probably saw this one coming.

We’ve been on Harry Hall the past two weeks, hoping to cash in on the Englishman’s terrific, yet unheralded, form.

It hasn’t worked out just yet, but Hall was right around it once again at the BMW Championship, finishing sixth for his fifth top-10 finish on the season.

The 28-year-old has been remarkably consistent to close out 2025, posting 11 straight top-30 finishes with eight top-20s in that span.

According to Justin Ray of the Twenty-First Group, Hall ranks first in strokes gained: putting, third in scoring average and fourth in birdie-or-better rate since May 1.

He’s doing everything but winning right now.

It wasn’t too long ago that Shane Lowry was in terrific form with nine top-20s, four top-10s and a pair of runner-ups in his first 14 starts in 2025.

A terrible showing at the US Open seemed to cause the Irishman to come unglued, however, and he’s now without a top-20 finish in his last five tournaments.

That said, Lowry finished T23 at the BMW Championship and showed signs of life Sunday.

Known to do his best work on the biggest stages, Lowry’s talent means he’s always worth a look at this kind of price.

Like Hall, Sungjae Im has been a regular feature in this column to no avail, yet.

Like Lowry, this is a buy-low opportunity on a player with the talent to disrupt this field.

It may be a surprise that Im even qualified for this event, but his T17 at the St. Jude two weeks ago was enough to vault him into East Lake in what has otherwise been a down year.

The South Korean has missed four cuts and posted just two top-30 finishes in his last 10 starts, but he has popped at different times this year. He came out of the gates strong with two top-five results in his first three starts, and he was T5 at Augusta in April.

Im also has some strong history at East Lake with a runner-up in 2022 and a sixth-place finish last year.

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