CHARLOTTE, N.C. — When Rory McIlroy won the Masters last month, the focus was understandably on winning a fifth major title and completing the career Grand Slam, quests that were years in the making.
Receiving less fanfare was the fact that the victory was McIlroy’s 29th on the PGA Tour, a stunning number in an era where there is more depth and also because McIlroy has toiled on the DP World Tour, thus limiting his opportunities.
McIlroy is all but a lock to get to 30 wins and beyond but it’s difficult to envision anyone else getting there.
Unless we’re talking about Scottie Scheffler.
The newly-crowned PGA Championship winner won his third major title Sunday which also happened to be his 15th PGA Tour win. It’s very difficult to project wins in the future—Jordan Spieth has been stuck on 13 for more than three years—but the speed with which Scheffler has racked up his victories makes it almost seem inevitable.
He joined a couple of guys named Woods and Nicklaus in getting from his first win to his 15th in just over three years and joined Tiger and Jack as the only players since World War II to have three majors and 15 wins before age 29.
And perhaps most stunning about his win is Scheffler really was not at his best for the majority of the tournament. ESPN analyst Andy North felt Scheffler’s only solid round of the tournament was his Saturday 65 that included an eagle and three birdies over the closing five holes to build a three-shot lead.
But that advantage was gone as he stepped to the 10th tee at Quail Hollow, with two-time major winner Jon Rahm having closed the gap by making three birdies in four holes.
Scheffler promptly birdied the par-5 10th—his first on the hole all week—then added another at the 14th to forge two ahead. Rahm had his troubles finishing and Scheffler was on his way to a second victory in consecutive starts.
“Finishing off a major championship is always difficult, and I did a good job of staying patient on the front nine,” he said. “I didn’t have my best stuff, but I kept myself in it, and I stepped up on the back nine and had a really good nine holes. That’s about it.”
Scheffler struggled with several pulled tee shots and got what seems like a pretty simple tip on the 10th tee from caddie Ted Scott: aim a bit farther to the right. It worked, with some help from Rahm.
Playing his best major tournament since joining LIV Golf, Rahm made Scheffler sweat this one out before stumbling over the closing holes, the bigger issue being his inability to birdie the 14th and 15th holes to keep the pressure on.
By the time Rahm got to the Green Mile finishing holes, he was all but forced to make something happen and ended up making the mistakes that gave Scheffler the breathing room and an eventual five-shot victory.
It was a reminder of a rivalry denied due to LIV Golf.
Scheffler was a winless PGA Tour pro in 2021 and the last man picked by captain Steve Stricker for the U.S. Ryder Cup team at Whistling Straits. He drew Rahm, the reigning U.S. Open champion and No. 1-ranked player in the world in the Sunday singles, and took a 4-and-3 victory. The U.S. won the Cup and Scheffler had a coming out party, an experience he said was a big confidence boost as he burst into his winning ways in 2022 and got to No. 1.
Scheffler won the 2022 Masters, put the green jacket on Rahm after the Spaniard won in 2023 and then had the favor returned last year. And then, at the Olympics, it was Scheffler who seemingly came out of nowhere to blow past Rahm and others with six birdies on the back nine in France to win the gold.
Rahm seemed genuinely stoked by his return to the major spotlight, despite the rough finish. He noted that “it was the most fun” he’d had on a golf course in some time and attributed some of his malaise in the majors over the past two years to swing issues he’s been addressing.
Perhaps that portends something more between them with Oakmont for the U.S. Open and Royal Portrush for the British Open looming.
Meanwhile, Scheffler has some work to do on his driver as it was learned afterward that his club was deemed non-conforming days before the tournament. Scheffler said he feared his club was getting close to the threshold and why he and his team had started putting in more work with his backup driver.
“My driver did fail me this week,” Scheffler said. “We had a feeling that it was going to be coming because I’ve used that driver for over a year. I was kind of fortunate for it to last that long, I felt like.”
There’s not much time to celebrate. Scheffler is playing this week’s Charles Schwab Championship at Colonial followed by a title defense next week at the Memorial.
Major happenings
Davis Riley made a triple-bogey 8 at the 7th hole Sunday but battled back to finish in a three-way tie for second with Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau.
At 100th in the Official World Golf Ranking heading into the week, that finish meant much more to him than English and DeChambeau.
The high finish pushed him to 53rd in the OWGR, meaning he is exempt for the U.S. Open at Oakmont. Monday was one of the top 60 OWGR cutoffs for the U.S. Open.
And by finishing among the top four, he’s assured himself a return to the Masters next year. DeChambeau as a recent major champion has no such worries and English is now 17th in the OWGR and in good shape to stay among the top 50 or earn another way into the Masters.
“Super excited the way I finished,” he said. “It was kind of a gut punch, what happened on 7. I knew it put me out of position to win, but I knew there was a lot to play for, and I bounced back really good.
“If you'd have told me at the beginning of the week I'd be in the second to last group on Sunday, I'd be stoked. Very fun week, a lot to learn from, and I'm already itching for the next major.”
Among those who will get into the U.S. Open via the top 60 are Jhonattan Vegas, Michael Kim, Patrick Reed, Nick Dunlap, Si Woo Kim and Joe Highsmith.
For players just outside the top 60 such as Laurie Canter and Rasmus Hojgaard, there is another top 60 cutoff in three weeks.
Adam Scott’s major run
Adam Scott was never really in contention but he did tie for 19th and extended an amazing major championship run of longevity. The PGA was his 95th consecutive major championship, a streak that began at the 2001 British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes. Only Jack Nicklaus has played 100 majors or more in a row. Nicklaus played 146 in a row starting with the 1962 Masters through the 1998 U.S. Open—more than 36 years.
Scott is exempt for the U.S. Open and British Open this year as well as next year’s Masters as the winner in 2013. He is 39th in the OWGR which bodes well for him to be in next year’s PGA Championship as well. All of which means if he can make it to next year’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, Scott will play in a 100th consecutive major championship.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scottie Scheffler Isn’t Just Winning Big, He’s Doing It at a Historic Rate.
