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Winners and Losers From the St. Jude Championship: Rory McIlroy Clearly Doesn’t Care

Andy Nesbitt|
Rory McIlroy finished 66th in the St. Jude Championship.
Rory McIlroy finished 66th in the St. Jude Championship. | Matthew Maxey/Getty Images

The 2026 FedEx Cup Playoffs got under way this past weekend at the St. Jude Championship in Memphis and it ended the way so many other golf tournaments have ended in recent years—with Scottie Scheffler running away with an easy victory.

Now the top 50 players in the standings move on to this week’s BMW Championship in St. Louis where much more will be at stake as the top 30 players will then advance to the Tour Championship in Atlanta next week.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s take a look back at the winners and losers from the St. Jude Championship.

Winner: Scottie Scheffler gets back to being Scottie Scheffler

Scheffler entered the week in the top spot of the FedEx Cup standings after a solid year but there were some questions about his game because he hadn’t won a tournament since January. Well, those questions are now forgotten about thanks to the No. 1 player in the world cruising to an eight-shot victory over Si-Woo Kim. Scheffler’s best round came on Friday when he started with five straight birdies and shot a nine-under 61. Over the weekend he had ho-hum rounds of 68 and 66 and enjoyed an easy walk down the back nine on Sunday.

Scheffler did have one wild moment in the final round when he got one of the worst bounces you’ll ever see in golf.

He bogeyed that hole but then played perfect golf the rest of the way and got his second victory of the season.

Loser: Rory McIlroy clearly doesn’t care about the FedEx Cup Playoffs

McIlroy made the surprising decision to play in this event after saying last month that he’s already pretty much qualified for the Tour Championship and didn’t see why he should be bothered with playing in the first two postseason tournaments. The two-time Masters champion showed up to Memphis extremely rusty and was never a factor. He finished in 66th place with a score (+8) that was better than just two other players. That’s not something you expect to see from the No. 2 player in the world but it’s clear that he’s not really concerned at all with the playoffs, which is kind of understandable because he’s won everything in the sport and the FedEx Cup just doesn’t carry the same spark as the major championships. Still, the PGA Tour can’t love seeing one of its biggest stars clearly mailing it in during what they want to be a big close to the season.

McIlroy spoke after Sunday’s round about the rust he had in Memphis and what he’s going to do in the next few days to get ready for the BMW Championship.

“Almost felt like the more the week went on, the more I felt lost with the golf swing a little bit,” McIlroy said after his final round. “I guess nice to shake the rust off a little bit, but I’m going to have to work pretty hard between now and next Thursday to feel like I have any sort of golf game to compete next week.

“I’m just so far away from where I need to be to even feel like I have a chance. I’ve just got to keep working and hope it turns around a little bit.”

Winners: All the top 50 players who advanced to the BMW Championship

Every player in the top 50 not only gets to live another week but they also get something much bigger: guaranteed entrance into all of next year’s signature events on the PGA Tour, which have huge purses and can lead to life-changing victories.

Loser: Jordan Spieth misses out on a chance to be in the top 50

Spieth had everyone excited on Thursday when he shot a five-under 65 and had a share of the lead. The fan-favorite entered the week 54th in the FedEx Cup standings and needed a big finish to qualify for the BMW Championship. But that didn’t happen as he struggled over the weekend with a two-over 72 on Saturday and an even-par 70 on Sunday. He was projected to make it inside the top 50 when he started the back nine in the final round but then he shot a 37 and saw his season come to a disappointing end.

“It’s funny, I just feel like I’m kind of getting back to playing really good golf, like it’s close to kicking off and I’m not going to play a tournament for a long time,” Spieth said Sunday after his round. “In some ways I feel like I’m leaving some out there, and in some ways it’s a good thing because like I mentioned after the first round, this will be the last time I finish like this for a while.

“I’m very, very confident in what’s coming. I just ran out of steam and maybe made a couple bad decisions over about a six-week stretch on what I was working on, and I just didn't quite have enough time to make up for it.”

Winner: Sungjae Im plays his way into the top 50

The PGA Tour veteran was stunningly the only player out of the top 50 at the start of the week to play his way into the BMW Championship. Im finished tied for fifth, even with a final round 74, and is now 40th in the FedEx Cup standings. He’ll be looking to make another move this week with hopes of making it to the Tour Championship for an eighth straight year.

Winner: Keith Mitchell for talking after his heartbreaking finish

Mitchell needed a birdie on the 18th hole on Sunday to make it into the top 50. But then a poor tee shot led to him having to take off his shoes and socks and step into the water to try to pull off a heroic shot. That didn’t happen, though, as his ball hooked into the water and ended his season.

After that crushing moment Mitchell, who finished 51st in the FedEx Cup standings, took some time to talk to Amanda Balionis on the CBS broadcast, which was pretty classy of him.

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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