The top of the leaderboard at the St. Jude Championship was a lot closer than expected. And it included one golfer, Xander Schauffele, who entered the final round nine strokes behind the leader.
Hideki Matsuyama held a five-stroke lead through the first three rounds at 17-under par and seemed poised for an easy victory on Sunday. He held on for a two-stroke win, but it was far from easy.
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His day turned on the back nine at TPC Southwind in Memphis, where he had bogeys on the 12th and 14th hole and a double bogey on the 15th.
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His lead quickly disappeared, as he dropped one shot off the lead before forcing a three-way tie with Schauffele and Viktor Hovland over the final holes of the tournament.
Schauffele entered Sunday at 8-under, trailing Matsuyama by nine strokes. Yet, Schauffele had a share of the lead when he entered the clubhouse Sunday at 15-under before Matsuyama drained a long birdie putt on the 17th hole to regain the lead for good.
Where would Schauffele's comeback have ranked all time in final-round comebacks on the PGA Tour?
Golf
It would have been one stroke off the all-time record set by Paul Lawrie at the 1999 British Open when he came back from 10-strokes behind leader Jean Van de Velde over the final 18 holes. Lawrie shot 67 in the final round while Van de Velde shot 77, and he then won a three-way playoff to complete the historic comeback.
Here's a look at some of the largest final-round comeback wins in PGA Tour history...
- 1. Paul Lawrie, 10 strokes (1999)
- 2. Stewart Cink, 9 strokes (2004)
- T-3. Justin Rose, 8 strokes (2018)
- T-3. Kyle Stanley, 8 strokes (2012)
- T-3. Craig Stadler, 8 strokes (2003)
- T-3. Scott Simpson, 8 strokes (1998)
- T-3. Chip Beck, 8 strokes (1990)
- T-3. Hal Sutton, 8 strokes (1985)
- T-3. Mark Lye, 8 strokes (1983)
- T-3. Ken Venturi, 8 strokes (1959)
- T-3. Jack Burke Jr, 8 strokes (1956)
