CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jon Rahm walked down the sloping sixteenth fairway at Quail Hole Nation Membership along with his head bowed. The strict facial features he hid beneath his vibrant pink hat gave nothing away because the sounds that got here from the close by 14th inexperienced throughout the water, the place Scottie Scheffler had simply made birdie to go up by two photographs, all however spelled out his main championship destiny.
“Even should you do not wish to have a look at leaderboards,” Rahm stated, “the group lets .”
For a short second, Rahm had appeared able to doing the unthinkable: monitoring down the No. 1 participant on this planet, who started the day 5 photographs forward of Rahm, on a significant championship Sunday. After tying the lead on the eleventh gap due to Scheffler’s uncharacteristic 2-over entrance 9, it appeared like Rahm had hoovered up the momentum and was able to run downhill on his technique to the Wanamaker Trophy.
However beating Scheffler requires greater than only a single stretch of fine golf. The now three-time main winner’s trademark shouldn’t be flash however steadiness and an uncanny skill to be unflappable within the face of errors. The stress he places on his opponents occurs organically; his sport is so sound and bulletproof that these making an attempt to beat him know the hassle required to outlast one of the best participant on this planet can be herculean.
Scheffler’s inevitability hung within the humid Charlotte air all of Sunday. It is why by the point Rahm walked off the sixteenth inexperienced with a bogey and Scheffler had performed 14 and 15 in 2 underneath, the Spaniard could not assist however go for broke. His tee shot on the par-3 seventeenth gap discovered the water. Sport over.
“This again 9 can be one which I keep in mind for a very long time,” Scheffler stated. “To step up once I wanted to probably the most, I will keep in mind that for some time.”
Nineteen years in the past in the course of the 2006 PGA Championship, Luke Donald watched an analogous sort of film unfold. Donald — then the Tenth-ranked participant on this planet — held a share of the lead after 36 holes and shot a 66 at Medinah Nation Membership on Saturday to get to 14 underneath. There was just one drawback: Tiger Woods shot a course-record 65 that day to move into Sunday in a tie for the lead with Donald. To that time, Woods had been 11-0 in majors the place he held at the least a share of the 54-hole lead.
“Tiger had this form of aura that you simply simply really feel like it is advisable do greater than it is advisable actually elevate your sport to beat him,” Donald stated Sunday after ending his closing spherical at Quail Hole. “And I feel he understood that.”
That Sunday, Woods and Donald performed within the closing pairing collectively, and Woods shot 68 on his technique to securing his twelfth main victory by 5 photographs over second place. On Sunday in Charlotte, Scheffler, who’s now 3-0 with a 54-hole lead at a significant, completed with the identical margin of victory: 5 strokes.
“He simply form of performed his sport, did not make too many errors and wore you down, and I definitely skilled that in 2006,” Donald stated of Woods. “I feel Scottie is an analogous sort of participant when he will get the lead.”
Since Scheffler gained the 2024 Masters and positioned himself firmly on prime of the game, quite a bit has occurred. Xander Schauffele has gained two majors, Bryson DeChambeau reached two majors himself, and Rory McIlroy lastly secured his inexperienced jacket and the Grand Slam.
Scheffler has been removed from forgotten in that point interval — he has gained six instances on tour and had three extra top-10 finishes at majors — however a small narrative was beginning to sprout: When will Scheffler win a significant that is not the Masters?
That Rahm was Scheffler’s foil on Sunday was becoming. They’ve positioned inexperienced jackets on one another’s shoulders, and so they entered the event with two majors apiece. Now, Scheffler slides above not simply Rahm however DeChambeau, Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas, too. He’s the participant of his technology, and everybody else is just making an attempt to play catch-up.
“There have been instances the place I really feel like I pressed,” DeChambeau, who completed tied for second place, stated. “I’ve received to be extra exact and repair what I can repair to make myself extra constant and stand up there, the likes of what Scottie is doing proper now.”
Over the previous 24 months, nobody has acquired extra reward from his friends than Scheffler, as they’ve all tried to elucidate his greatness whereas concurrently marveling at it, too.
“I’ve performed lots of golf with him, and it looks like each shot has a magnitude of drive and simply finds its means up there,” Sam Burns stated.
With Scheffler, none of it ever feels off the rails. Even after making three bogeys on the entrance 9 and combating a miss to the left along with his swing, he did not seem flustered. All week he had been working along with his coach, Randy Smith, on transferring his hips towards the goal extra effectively, and for a second, it appeared the unhealthy habits have been making their means into his swing once more. However then, Scheffler stepped up on the Tenth tee, aimed extra proper on the suggestion of his caddie Ted Scott, made certain he made a full physique flip and striped it. One thing clicked. After three extra birdies by 15 holes, Scheffler’s victory felt inevitable as soon as once more.
“I felt like this was as arduous as I battled for a event in my profession,” stated Scheffler, whose driver was also deemed nonconforming earlier than the event, forcing him to play with a brand new one this week. “Ending off a significant championship is all the time troublesome. I did not have my greatest stuff, however I saved myself in it. I used to be battling my swing the primary couple days.”
Scheffler has already attracted loads of comparisons to Woods over his previous two seasons as a consequence of his elite ballstriking. However that he can win with out his greatest after which win by quite a bit when he does faucet into it, can also be akin to what Woods did in his prime.
“He simply would not get too excessive or low, however his sport speaks for himself,” Donald stated. “And he hates to lose.”
As Scheffler has gained extra and change into a fixture within the sport’s highlight, he is allowed himself to indicate and inform simply precisely how a lot he needs it. On the 2024 Masters, he shared how nervous he had been and that he wished he did not wish to win as badly as he did. On Sunday, Scheffler wiped off tears on his means up Quail Hole’s 18th fairway earlier than throwing his hat on the inexperienced in ecstasy and yelling moments after the ultimate putt dropped. He’s now not only a two-time Masters winner however now, a three-time main champion at age 27, midway to the Grand Slam.
“Typically I want I did not care as a lot as I did — or as I do,” Scheffler stated once more after his closing spherical. “It will be quite a bit simpler if I might present up and be like, eh, win or lose, I am nonetheless going to go residence and do no matter. Typically I really feel that means. However on the finish of the day, this implies quite a bit to me.”
“He needs to win each time he goes out right here, regardless if it is golf, pickleball, no matter it’s, he needs to win,” Smith stated. “I preserve equating it to different sports activities. You bought the basketball man, you all the time know who it’s on a crew, who needs the ball with one second left, and that is the best way he’s.”
If McIlroy’s emotional win on the Masters this 12 months was the tip of 1 storyline, then Scheffler’s victory at Quail Hole was a well timed reminder of the one which solely grows stronger. McIlroy is likely to be having one of the best 12 months within the sport, however the title of greatest participant on this planet nonetheless belongs to Scheffler.
