Stephan Jaeger's First Tour Win Snaps Scottie Scheffler's Streak

Jaeger, a first-time winner, was one shot better than world's No. 1 player.

Scottie Scheffler had his chances to become the first player to win three straight PGA Tour tournaments since Dustin Johnson accomplished the feat in 2017. Unfortunately for Scheffler, the pesky problems that have kept him from even greater dominance reared their collective head again, allowing Stephan Jaeger to walk away victorious at the Texas Children's Houston Open.

Scheffler's birdie attempt from just outside five feet on the 72nd hole of the weekend slid under the target to make Jaeger yet another first-time winner to hoist the hardware this season. No. 18 proved especially costly to Scheffler's chances as he three-putted from inside eight feet on Friday for a double-bogey.

Jaeger posted back-to-back four-under 66s on the weekend to follow up on his 69-67 to open the tournament. The 34-year-old, playing in the 134th event of his career, did his work early on Sunday with birdies on Nos. 3, 4, 8 and 9 before parring every hole on the back nine. He avoided a bogey on No. 13 by rolling in a 19-footer and was unflappable, even as the best player in the world and a bottlenecked leaderboard breathed down his neck.

Tony Finau, who was trying to defend his crown at the tournament, finished T-3 along with Alejando Tosti, Thomas Detry, Taylor Moore. David Skinns, who saw his chances slip away with a bogey on No. 18, finished T-7 at 10-under with Max Greyserman, Aaron Rai and Billy Horschel. Horschel turned in the round of the day with a six-under 64.

With the victory, Jaeger now sits 10th on the FedEx Cup Playoffs point list. This was the breakout performance in what has been an extremely impressive season to this point. After finishing T-18 at the Sony Open, he put together T-3 finishes at the Farmers Insurance Open and the Mexico Open.

At 5-foot-9 and 170 pounds, Jaeger gets tremendous length off the tee and is currently ninth on Tour in driving distance. He's not the type of player who will blow anyone away with raw skill but he's steady and reliable, never looking like he doesn't belong. This performance in Houston proved he can look the toughest competition in the eye and emerge through a crowded field to win.

Kyle Koster is an editor at The Big Lead.