AUGUSTA, Ga. — A victory on the 2024 Masters appeared inevitable for Scottie Scheffler.
The Texan has been ranked No. 1 on the planet for greater than 80 weeks throughout his brief profession. He’d received eight instances on the PGA Tour since February 2022, a stretch that noticed him turn out to be the primary golfer ever to win the Gamers Championship in back-to-back years.
Scheffler is considered maybe golf’s greatest ball striker since Tiger Woods in his prime, and Scheffler’s magical fingers across the greens even have drawn comparability to you-know-who.
Till Sunday, Scheffler had just one main championship victory, the 2022 Masters, which could have been the one motive anybody would doubt his standing as the sport’s subsequent generational star.
After coming into Sunday’s closing spherical of the 88th Masters at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership main by 1 shot, Scheffler ran away from the opposite contenders on the second 9 to win a second inexperienced jacket in three years.
Scheffler carded a 4-under 68 over the ultimate 18 holes to complete at 11 underneath for the match and beat Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg by 4 strokes. Aberg, who was an newbie at Texas Tech a yr in the past, was making an attempt to turn out to be the primary golfer to win the Masters in his debut since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979. Aberg posted a 3-under 69 within the closing spherical.
Max Homa, Collin Morikawa and Tommy Fleetwood tied for third at 4 underneath.
“I really feel like I am taking part in actually good golf proper now,” Scheffler mentioned. “I really feel like I am in command of my feelings as I’ve ever been, which is an effective place to be. I really feel like I am maturing as an individual on the golf course, which is an effective place to be.
“I believe it is onerous to argue with the outcomes of the previous few weeks. I have been taking part in some good golf. However I actually attempt to not focus an excessive amount of on the previous.”
At 27, Scheffler grew to become the fourth-youngest golfer to win a number of inexperienced jackets; solely Jack Nicklaus (25 years, 81 days), Woods (25 years, 100 days) and Seve Ballesteros (26 years, 2 days) have been youthful.
Scheffler claimed his second Masters title in solely his fifth begin at Augusta Nationwide, which is the second-fewest begins wanted to perform the feat within the match’s historical past. Horton Smith received two of the primary three Masters, in 1934 and 1936.
Scheffler additionally grew to become solely the fifth golfer in Masters historical past to win a number of inexperienced jackets by 3 strokes or extra, becoming a member of Woods (1997 and 2002), Ballesteros (1980 and 1983), Nicklaus (1965 and 1972) and Sam Snead (1949 and 1952).
“Clearly, Scottie is an unbelievable golf participant, and I believe all of us anticipate him to be there when it comes right down to the final couple holes of a match,” Aberg mentioned. “He is confirmed it many times, and I believe he makes us higher. He makes you need to beat him, clearly, and that is the identical for me and the identical for everybody else on this discipline.”
Previously 35 days, Scheffler has received thrice towards elite fields on the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Gamers and now the Masters.
“I am simply pinching myself actually,” mentioned Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott. “I do not actually know what I am seeing. The man is particular. He is a unique type of particular. I believe we’re all seeing it, and we’re all questioning, ‘The place did this come from?'”
What’s Scheffler doing so effectively?
“What’s he not good at?” Scott mentioned. “I do not know. I believe his superpower is [that] folks which can be tremendous highly effective are good at every little thing, and he appears to be good at every little thing. He does not actually have a weak spot. I believe folks created a weak spot in his placing. He is not a weak putter. He is putter. He is an excellent putter.”
After his victory, Scheffler did not wait lengthy to FaceTime together with his spouse, Meredith, who watched the ultimate spherical at her aunt’s residence in Dallas. Meredith Scheffler is anticipating the couple’s first little one later this month. Scheffler mentioned he deliberate to fly residence Sunday night time, then he is scheduled to play within the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, beginning Thursday.
“I’ll go residence, soak on this victory tonight,” Scheffler mentioned. “Will certainly benefit from the start of my first little one. However with that being mentioned, I nonetheless love competing. My priorities will change right here very quickly. My son or daughter will now be the primary precedence, together with my spouse, so golf will now be most likely fourth in line. However I nonetheless love competing. I do not plan on taking my eye off the ball anytime quickly, that is for certain.”
Scheffler mentioned he spent Sunday morning with pals and tried to take his thoughts off golf, which wasn’t straightforward. At one level, his neck began bothering him from the stress. He had battled a neck harm on the Gamers Championship in March.
The ultimate two pairings of Aberg-Homa and Scheffler-Morikawa made their technique to Amen Nook (gap Nos. 11 to 13) shortly earlier than 5 p.m. ET. By the point they left, solely one in all them — Scheffler — nonetheless had a prayer to win.
Aberg made the primary large mistake when his sweeping shot from 216 yards went too far left and bounced right into a pond on the par-4 eleventh. He made a double-bogey 6 and fell 4 pictures behind Scheffler.
A short time later, Morikawa hit his strategy shot from almost the identical spot as Aberg. He yelled, “Rattling it,” after his ball took flight and watched it bounce into the pond. The consequence was his second double bogey in three holes — he could not get out of a greenside bunker on No. 9 on his first attempt — as he fell 5 pictures behind Scheffler.
“Greed acquired one of the best of me,” Morikawa mentioned. “9, cannot miss it over there and may’t go away it within the bunker. Eleven, simply tried to hit too excellent of a shot. It isn’t like at that time I used to be making an attempt to press. I knew the place I stood. Yeah, it is simply cannot try this.”
Then on the twelfth gap, the place swirling winds, a slim inexperienced and the intimidating Rae’s Creek have spoiled many Masters hopefuls’ goals through the years, Homa’s probabilities took a devastating blow. He did not hit a nasty tee shot on the shortest par-3 on the course, however his ball leaped excessive off the sunbaked inexperienced and settled in vines on a financial institution.
After watching his ball bounce onerous off the inexperienced, Homa requested his caddie, Joe Greiner, “The place did it go?”
After a few minutes, Homa discovered it within the thick floor cowl, however he needed to take an unplayable lie and a 1-stroke penalty. His chip shot acquired caught up within the fringe, and he two-putted for a double-bogey 5 to drop to five underneath.
“The sincere reply is it did not really feel honest,” Homa mentioned. “I hit a extremely good golf shot, and it did not really feel honest. I’ve seen far worse simply roll again down the hill. Yeah, the skilled reply is this stuff occur.”
Scheffler made a bogey of his personal on the eleventh when he missed the inexperienced, chipped to 9 ft and missed a par putt. He performed it safely on the twelfth and made par.
Scheffler ended any doubts about successful once more when he made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 and 14. On the par-5 thirteenth, he reached the inexperienced in 2 pictures and two-putted for a birdie to maneuver to 9 underneath. Then on the par-4 14th, he spun his strategy shot to a foot and tapped in to go to 10 underneath.
“I didn’t ever let myself get hooked up to the lead,” Scheffler mentioned. “I simply tried to maintain pushing. I imply, I believe if I’d have performed just a little bit defensively it could have been a considerably completely different end. I went for the inexperienced in two on 13 [and] was in a position to make birdie. I attacked the pin on 14 and was in a position to make birdie. Went for it once more on 15 and made a pleasant par.”
“If I used to be simply making an attempt to make pars the entire again 9, I’d have been standing on 18 having to make par and hoping Ludvig would solely make a par.”
Scheffler added one other birdie on the par-3 sixteenth, and what had appeared inevitable for thus lengthy was now actuality.