Scheifele actually fared alright in two days of action from Southwood Golf and Country Club in Winnipeg. Although failing to make the cut for Saturday and Sunday, The 6-foot-3, 210-pound centreman served as a fill-in sponsor exemption for teammate Blake Wheeler, who was unable to attend the two-to-four day event.
After shooting a 15-over 87 in his first round on Thursday, Scheifele put together a 14-over 86 on Friday, finishing his two rounds at 29-over 173. That score was dead last amongst his 155 peers taking to the tee-boxes in The Players Cup.
“I just had fun,” Scheifele said following his first round of play on Thursday. “You got to see what it was like to play a pro course, and I enjoyed it. I made some good shots, I made some bad shots. Overall it was a really fun day.”
The 7,394 yard, 18 hole course of Southwood kept Scheifele – and his posse of fans/followers – thoroughly entertained for the two-day walk through. Scheifele was grouped with Manitoba amateur champ Justin McDonald and Southwood Head Professional Andrew Steep for the tournament.
The Jets’ top line centreman shot one triple bogey, three double bogeys, seven bogeys, while hitting par six times on day one, to go along with one birdie, before hitting two birdies on Friday, and improving his total by one stroke. Unfortunately his effort was nowhere near enough, finishing 35 strokes behind the cut after two days of play.
“For that to be the cut line is pretty amazing,” Scheifele said following his second round. “It just shows how good these guys really are. It will be exciting to follow one of them in the future… Every hole you get more and more of an appreciation for what these guys do on a day-to-day basis. It was fun to experience that. It will rank way up there.”
Tyler McCumber earned a two-stroke tournament victory over Michael Gellerman, shooting a 5-under 67 in Sunday’s final round, finishing The Players Cup 22 under par. McCumber took home $36,000 of the $200,000 purse.
Scheifele – who put up 23 goals and 60 points in 60 regular season games for Winnipeg in 2017-18, before collecting 14 goals and 20 points in 17 postseason games – and the Winnipeg Jets will open training camp on September 14th, and kick off their regular season in St. Louis on October 4th.
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