St. Jude Classic 2017 results: Daniel Berger wins for 2nd straight year in Memphis

Same hotel. Same room number. Same result. That’s the story once again in Memphis for Daniel Berger.

After a wild Sunday at TPC Southwind that saw a nine-way tie at the top at one point, Berger is your 2017 FedEx St. Jude Classic champion for the second straight season. It’s the second career win for the 24-year-old Florida State alum, who held off a host of quality names from Charl Schwartzel to Billy Horschel to Rafa Cabrera-Bello in the Tour’s traditional pre-U.S. Open event. With a final-round 66, Berger posted early ahead of the leaders, emerging from the messy pack with a strong four-hole close.

But perhaps, Berger took home his second straight title at Southwind rather quietly. The story of the day on Sunday early centered around one of the sport’s biggest names — and one of the sport’s next names, perhaps. Right as CBS took the coverage reins for most of the country around 2 p.m. local time, Phil Mickelson and recent NCAA champion and amateur Braden Thornberry sat atop the leaderboard late in their respective early rounds.

A quick ejection from contention for Phil followed with a triple-bogey at the 12th sent him tumbling down the leaderboard a bit, but Thornberry hung around and finished tied for fourth.

Here are three quick takeaways from TPC Southwind on Sunday.

At just 24, Berger probably doesn’t get as much hype and play as he should among the Tour’s young stars. Just now a couple years removed from winning Rookie of the Year in 2015, he’s a multiple-time PGA Tour winner. He’s a major championship-type talent who is long, confident, and worth a possible look this coming week. Why not?

Winning in back-to-back weeks on Tour is difficult. Southwind definitely isn’t Erin Hills. But, hey, playing good golf is generally a prerequisite for winning a major.

At whatever point he decides to turn professional, we’ll have plenty of folks commenting about the long-term viability of Thornberry’s move at the golf ball. The vast majority won’t be NCAA individual champions or have a T-4 finish as an amateur on the PGA Tour.

The Ole Miss sophomore was the story of the week playing in his local tournament in his Memphis hometown, with big crowds adorned in red and blue following him through the week. He’ll be a Tour stalwart at some point, but for now, it’s back to Oxford for the college game’s top player.

Presented without comment, here.

He’s not planning to show. For now. There’s also a 60 percent chance of storms on Thursday in the Milwaukee area.

Here are your final results from Memphis: