Archive of posts tagged the PGA Championship

Scottie Scheffler wants to expand his festival

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BMW

The PGA Tour season enters its final stretch this Thursday. The FedEx St. Jude Championship kicks off, the first of three tournaments that will determine the 2025 FedEx Cup champion.

Three separate events—this week's St. Jude, next week's BMW Championship, and the Tour Championship in two weeks' time—will determine the victory of the tour's annual season. The winner of the Tour Championship will claim the tour title. On the other hand, this PGA Tour playoff is scheduled weeks before the Ryder Cup.

Scottie Scheffler, results

The points for the winners of these tournaments are quadrupled compared to the regular season tournaments, so 2,000 are distributed to the winners in the first two events, before the Tour Championship decides the champion. Furthermore, the various tournaments, which are played without a cut, are eliminatory: of the seventy participants at St. Jude, only the top fifty in the annual rankings will advance to the BMW. After that, the cut will be set at thirty for the final Tour Championship.

The winner of that last tournament will be taken into account to determine the FedEx Cup champion. However, as a novelty this season, the players' starting scores will not be taken into account the annual tour ranking. Everyone will start at par.

Thus, a total of seventy players, the best of the season in the FedEx Cup, have secured a ticket to a FedEx St. Jude tournament to be played at TPC Southwind in Memphis this weekend. All eyes will be on one man: Scottie Scheffler. The American, a strong favorite for the final victory of the season, enters this tournament as the solid leader of the annual rankings and in peak form.

The British Open champion just under three weeks ago, Scheffler returns with all eyes on him. He has won four of his last eight tournaments and hasn't dropped out of the top 10 since The Players in March. A testament to his absolute consistency.

As if that weren't enough, he's seeking his second consecutive FedEx Cup, a feat no one has achieved since the format's launch in 2007. It would be another milestone for a player who continues to shape the future of golf, with two majors (he also won the PGA Championship) and four wins this year, and is poised to be at full strength for the Ryder Cup in a few weeks.

Furthermore, Scheffler (4,806 points in the standings) will not have his greatest rival in the fight for the FedEx Cup, Rory McIlroy (3,444), in the opening tournament, which reaffirms his favoritism for this first tournament. The American and Northern Irishman have a solid grip on the top two spots in the annual rankings heading into the final tournament, a situation that has led a tired McIlroy to save his energy for the next two weeks.

Thus, Scheffler's biggest rivals in the first tournament are Sepp Straka (2,595 points), Russell Henley (2,391), and Justin Thomas (2,280). The world number one is aiming to make the final push to distance all his rivals by more than 2,000 points before the BMW Championship and, with that, lock down that top spot heading into the final event.

Of course, there will be no shortage of other big names. J.J. Spaun, Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Justin Rose, and Hideki Matsuyama are, among others, candidates to win this first tournament beyond the annual rankings. Players like Matthew Fitzpatrick, Schauffele, and Jordan Spieth are nearing the top 50 positions that qualify for the BMW Championship, so there's a lot at stake starting this week.

Niemann opens up about Major struggles despite LIV dominance: It frustrated me a lot

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golfer

Joaquin Niemann, although he excels playing at LIV Golf, his performances at the Majors do not arouse the optimism of the public, which has a lot of question marks over its head. 

While on the one hand, the Chilean excels at LIV Golf, achieving his fifth victory on the controversial Tour, his results at the Majors are not particularly optimistic. 

Niemann appeared pale in his appearances at the Majors this year, and the only notable result was a T8 at the PGA Championship. 

Aware that such results are frustrating, Niemann hopes that next year can look a little different, at least when it comes to the Majors. 

In an interview with the media after the last victory, Joaquin pointed out that it is difficult to accept a worse performance at the Majors, but it seems that he is on the right track.

"Yeah. I feel like there is nothing else to try. Yeah, it frustrated me a lot to not be playing good at the majors, you know, but I know I'm going to make it happen. I know I'm going to figure it out.

Yeah, I mean, obviously this is a game that's really frustrating, and I think we all know that. Sometimes we take it personal, like the game is doing something against us."- he said.

Joaquin Niemann: I'm patient so I know the results are going to come

Accepting setbacks and defeats is also part of the sport, and Niemann seems to be aware of that. The Chilean golfer believes that mistakes are opportunities to learn something new, but he also emphasizes how patience is key at this point. 

His results at LIV Golf are certainly cause for optimism, and now he has to figure out what is the reason for his somewhat lackluster performances at the Majors.

"But I'm always going to — in the position I am I feel like I'm always going to learn something from every mistake and every bad result. Yeah, I'm patient so I know the results are going to come. I'm just going to wait for them."