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.
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?
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)
