11 April 2022: As the shadows of the pines lengthened around Augusta National Sunday afternoon, so did those cast by Scottie Scheffler, 6 foot 3 and playing like a giant.
Happiness is going to the 72nd hole of the Masters Tournament with a five-stroke lead. Joy is what comes presently, even after missing two tiny putts on the final green, errors more surprising than significant, because Scheffler had already done the hard work.
By that point Scheffler had withstood challenges from Cameron Smith, who played with him in the final pairing, and Rory McIlroy, who started the day 10 strokes behind and roared into contention with a 64.
But Scheffler answered the threats from near and far. Smith ran into the 12th hole and McIlroy ran out of holes. With some sublime golf, Scheffler became the 10th Texan to win a Green Jacket and strengthened his status as the No. 1 golfer in the world.
The 25-year-old finished at 10-under par 278 after a closing 71, three strokes ahead of McIlroy and five better than Smith and Shane Lowry. Collin Morikawa was next at 284, followed by Corey Conners and Will Zalatoris.
The convincing result was far different from Scheffler’s mood earlier on Sunday, when he was anguished from the stress of the moment as he spent the long hours between waking up and teeing off with his wife, Meredith, in their rental home.
“I cried like a baby this morning,” Scheffler said. “I was so stressed out. I didn’t know what to do. I was sitting there telling Meredith, ‘I don’t think I’m ready for this. I’m not ready, I don’t feel like I’m ready for this kind of stuff,’ and I just felt overwhelmed.’”
The couple talked about their faith, about accepting whatever was to happen, and Scheffler managed to calm down. “My identity isn’t a golf score,” said Scheffler, although recent numbers have defined him as being at the sport’s zenith.
Scheffler played 65 PGA Tour events as a pro before he broke through at Phoenix in mid-February. His record since has been somewhere between sizzling and scorching, as dominant as it was in junior circles around Dallas when he was growing up, the Masters his fourth victory in six starts.
The last player to drive down Magnolia Lane on a Sunday night in April with four victories including the Masters in a season was Arnold Palmer in 1960. It took Scheffler only 42 days from his first victory to becoming No. 1 in the world, but his stay at the top figures to last much longer.
After holding a record-tying five-stroke advantage through 36 holes and leading Smith by three going into the final round, Scheffler saw his lead quickly trimmed to a single shot after birdies from Smith on Nos. 1 and 2 on the warm, sunny day.
The first turning point came on the par-4 third hole. Both golfers were left with third shots from about 30 yards up a steep slope to the green. Scheffler judged a low pitch that he bounced into the hill perfectly. It tracked toward the cup and went in for birdie. When Smith was unable to get up and down and bogeyed, Scheffler’s lead returned to three. It never got any smaller.“What is most pivotal was getting that ball up-and-down,” Scheffler said. “To have it go in was obviously off the charts. Parring 4 and 5 was huge as well. After that I kind of just started cruising. I felt comfortable with pretty much most of the aspects of my game. My swing maybe felt a little bit off, but other than that, I felt like I wasn’t ever really going to make a bogey.”
Scheffler’s play around the greens was eye-catching throughout the Tournament.
“Worked on my short game for about two hours this morning after watching Scheffler last couple of days,” the 2010 U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell said on social media after Scheffler’s doozy of a pitch-and-run on No. 3. “May have to throw another few hours at it. Ridiculous.”
“Reminds me of Seve very much,” three-time champion Nick Faldo said on the CBS broadcast. “Reminds me of Jordan Spieth in his heyday.”
As so often happens on Sunday, the par-3 12th proved a critical juncture. Fresh off a birdie on the difficult 11th and back to within three shots, Smith “made a really bad swing at the wrong time,” as he put it, his 9-iron splashing in Rae’s Creek, a huge mistake that led to a triple-bogey 6. “Wasn’t even trying to go near that pin. It was just a terrible swing.”
An eagle at No. 13 gave McIlroy an important boost, but he was still five behind at that point and managed only one more birdie—by holing a bunker shot on No. 18. “I thought if I could shoot 63 today, it would give me a chance,” McIlroy said. “That was sort of my number today. I didn’t quite get there, but I gave it a good shot.”
Scheffler had dreamed of, and worked toward, success as a professional golfer since childhood, when he started getting lessons from Randy Smith at Royal Oaks Country Club, who taught a number of tour pros including 1997 Open Championship winner Justin Leonard.
“I grew up around so many guys out there, just watching them and learning from them,” Scheffler said. “I wore pants when I was a kid at Royal Oaks because I wanted to play golf on the PGA Tour. I would wear pants and a collared shirt to third-grade class and get made fun of, rightfully so. I always wanted to be out here.”
Scheffler’s work ethic always was strong and his talent clear. When he was 10 years old, he wore out a wedge. Smith took it to a seasoned club expert for refurbishing, and the technician was astounded by what he saw: a small sweetspot whose grooves were so worn out it reminded him of wedges used by the incomparable ball-striker Ben Hogan.
“He just continues to work hard and to be prepared when the bell rings,” Leonard said when reached during the final round. “He does not spend much time thinking about results; he just tries to get better every day. He talks about being the same player he was just a few weeks before winning. I believe it.”
Scheffler said he felt at peace during play this week, assisted in that goal by caddie Ted Scott, who used to work for two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson and has been with Scheffler during this hot streak. The calm was accompanied by full concentration on Sunday, when Scheffler tried to mimic the intense focus that Tiger Woods employed when winning his first Masters 25 years ago, excelling in the final round while playing with a large lead.
“I tried not to look up. I tried to keep my head down and just keep doing what I was doing because I didn’t want to break my concentration,” Scheffler said. “When I finally got on there and I had a five-shot lead and was like, ‘All right, now I can enjoy this.’ And you saw the results of that. Thanks, Tiger.”
If young golfers aren’t already trying to copy what Scheffler achieved this week, it won’t be long before they do.
