Welcome friends, to the iconic Issue #6 of your favorite golf newsletter. The FedEx championship was not without drama at the bottom of the playoff qualifiers. There was zero drama at the top however, as Scheffler brought a howitzer to the competition and obliterated the field. Nobody missed the cut in Mush’s lineup, was it enough to roll in some dough? Let’s get into it.
PGA Recap
FedEx St. Jude Championship, TPC Southwind, Memphis
The robot is back. With a vengeance.
Scottie Scheffler showed up to Memphis this week apparently done being polite. After spending most of 2026 collecting runner-up finishes like the rest of us collect lost balls, frequently and without joy, the world number one finally put it all together at TPC Southwind and won the FedEx St. Jude Championship by eight shots. That's not a tournament win so much as a mercy rule.
A second round 61 put the trophy well within reach and a final round 66 left absolutely nobody in any doubt. More impressively Scheffler did it with his putter. it was statistically the best putting week of his entire career, picking up nearly nine shots on the field on the greens alone. The last time I picked up nine shots was off a bar when Covid hit. I did this to build my immunity (made sense at the time). So he won with the flatstick. From the man already considered the best ball striker on the planet. That's just not fair to the other 69 players in the field and frankly I think there should be an investigation, into the robot arms to start.
He's now won 21 PGA Tour titles, surpassed Rory McIlroy for second on the all-time career money list, and sits just over a million dollars away from catching Tiger Woods for number one. The Mush Master had him in the lineup. Unfortunately it was not enough, more in the Degen Den.
Si Woo Kim finished runner-up at nine under, eight shots back. Sam Burns and Justin Rose tied for third. Notable absences from next week's BMW Championship include Jackson Koivun, Jordan Spieth, Max Homa and Brian Harman who all failed to advance through the playoff cut. Young Koivun's dream postseason run ends in Memphis but what a summer it's been for the kid. Hats off Jackson, we doff our caps to thee.
Next week comes the BMW Championship at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. The field cuts from 50 to 30. The Mush Master is already making questionable decisions.
Worm of the Week
This week's Worm of the Week goes to Keith Mitchell — a man who rolled up his powder blue pants, waded into a lake up to his calves on the 18th hole of a FedEx Cup playoff event, hit a shot that bounced into the water anyway, made bogey, missed the BMW Championship by 7.819 points, and lost his guaranteed spot in next year's $20 million signature events in the process.
Seven… Point. Eight. One. Nine…Points.
Let that number sink in. Along with Keith's ball.
Here's the full tragic arc: Mitchell started the week sitting 49th in the FedEx Cup standings, right on the bubble. He needed to hold on. He played solid golf all week. On Sunday on 18 he was one shot back of safety and decided to go for it with his 3-wood. "I absolutely striked my 3-wood. I thought it was perfect when I hit it," he said afterward. the undefeated Mother Nature and a gust of wind had other ideas and the ball barely stayed up in the rough before rolling in the water.
Now here's where it gets beautifully cinematic. Needing a birdie to advance in the playoffs on the 72nd and final hole of the tournament, Mitchell removed his shoes. Removed his socks. Rolled up those powder blue trousers. And waded into the lake to play the shot.
From the water. With his season on the line. In a playoff event. I mean COME ON! How do you not love it?! Have I mentioned how much I love golf?
He hit it. It bounced short and rode the bank left, right into the water.
Mitchell made bogey. He finished 51st. The top 50 advanced. He went home.
Golf Channel posted the moment with two broken heart emojis and a crying face. That about covers it.
Keith Mitchell, our dude, we salute your audacity, your powder blue pants, and your absolute commitment to making the most dramatic exit possible from the 2026 FedEx Cup playoffs. The Worm of the Week trophy is yours. It's waterproof.
Watch Keith's heroic water shot here — sound up for the full heartbreak experience
Chili Dip Golf Tip
The Gate Drill:
Stick two tees in the practice green about a foot in front of your ball, just slightly wider than your putter head. Give maybe an inch of clearance on each side. Now make your putting stroke and roll the ball through the gate without clipping either tee.
That's it. That's the whole drill.
Simple right? It is. Until you try it. The first time most rec players attempt this they clip a tee immediately and realize with dawning horror that their putter face has apparently been pointed at a completely different zip code than their intended target this whole time.
The gate doesn't lie. The gate has no feelings. The gate will expose you, laugh at you, mock you, and make you late for Sunday meatloaf.
Do this for ten minutes before your next round. Start with a foot of distance between ball and gate. As you get comfortable (or if you are starting with more skill) move the gate closer to the ball, or squeeze it tighter, which demands even more precision. Work your way back from three feet to six feet, keeping the gate in the same place.
What you're training is muscle memory for a square face at impact. Do it enough times and your body starts to learn what square actually feels like. For most of us this is like finding out there is no Santa Claus (if my friend Bob is reading I apologize but it’s true). It’s a new and unsettling feeling that makes you want to cry just a little.
Your three-foot putts will improve. Your score will improve. Your playing partners may accuse you of sandbagging. That's how you know it's working.
Pro tip : if you're at home with no practice green, this works on carpet too. Your significant other may have thoughts about tees in the carpet. That's between you and them.
Today in Golf History
On this date in 2002, a man named Rich Beem won the PGA Championship at Hazeltine Golf Club in Minnesota. You may not know Rich Beem, and that's the whole point.
Beem was a journeyman. A guy who had sold car stereos before making it to the PGA Tour. A man with exactly one previous Tour victory to his name. A perfectly fine professional golfer who on any given week had zero business beating the greatest player on the planet.
But on this particular Sunday in August 2002, he did exactly that. He beat Tiger Woods, the continuously ranked world number one golfer for 3 frickin’ years, by one shot to claim the coveted Wanamaker Trophy.
Tiger was at the absolute peak of his powers in 2002. He had won the Masters and US Open that same year. He was the most dominant force in sports. And underdog Rich Beem, former car stereo salesman, one career win, nobody's pick to win that or any other pro tournament at the time, held him off down the stretch at Hazeltine. Can you feel that pressure from 24 years in the past? I feel like I can.
Beem made four consecutive birdies late in the round to build his lead and then held on for dear life, or as crypto folk would say, he HODL’d, as Tiger made his customary Sunday charge. When it was over Beem famously danced on the 18th green in a moment of pure unfiltered joy that the golf world had never quite seen before and hasn't really seen since.
Click HERE for the dance, it’s 5:50 in and you get a bonus slow-mo version if you watch until the end. Thanks for making me feel good about MY moves Rich.
Golf is a sport where the most prepared, most talented, most experienced player usually wins. Usually. And then occasionally Rich Beem shows up and sells everyone a car stereo.
Winston the Worm raises a glass to Rich Beem. Wherever you are Rich, well done. Well done indeed.
The Degen Den
Well no one on my card got Mushed but the Master finished in 9054th place in the big contest, a bit outside the top 7200 that got paid. Matsuyama continues his made cut streak and now sits at 32. Gonna have to see who breaks first and stick with him! Me thinks the 5 buck contest this week.
Had the winner but the supporting cast fell a wee bit short
Matsuyama and his streak are in and we gotta stick with Scheffler the robot after that performance. That’s a whole lot of salary cap gone with those two so off we go to hunt for bargains at the BMW. Going simply by top 10 finishes on the year and cuts made at the lower end of the salary cap let’s go with Hisatsune, A. Fitzpatrick and Sahith Theegala. That leaves us with Ryan Gerard at $7800 to spend the rest of our dough and he’s been playing fairly well.
I have a good feeling about this week, which typically spells doom for those in the lineup.
With a typical Mush Master move, I accidentally entered that lineup twice so I tweaked the 2nd entry for full disclosure. I dropped Scheffler to get more favorites in : Fleetwood, C. Young, Matsuyama, R. Gerard, A. Fitzpatrick, and R. Hisatune. Two lineups, More golfers to Mush!
Disclaimer: These picks are provided purely for entertainment purposes. If you gamble, don’t gamble. If you don’t gamble, carry on wise one.
Golf Joke of the Week
A golfer searching for his ball in the deep rough finds a skeleton lying there, still clutching a 7-iron. He calls his buddy over and shouts "Hey, throw me my 8-iron. Apparently you can't get out of here with a seven."
Check out the most recent blog post on the website to learn a little more about Long John himself and how the legend was birthed (it was not from a beer keg).
Once again, Thanks for reading, and even more for subscribing if you have done so. See you next Tuesday!