CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Jon Rahm walked down the sloping sixteenth fairway at Quail Hole Nation Membership together with his head bowed. The strict facial features he hid beneath his shiny 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 pictures, all however spelled out his main championship destiny.
“Even when you do not wish to take a look at leaderboards,” Rahm mentioned, “the gang lets you already know.”
For a short second, Rahm had appeared able to doing the unthinkable: monitoring down the No. 1 participant on the earth, who started the day 5 pictures forward of Rahm, on a significant championship Sunday. After tying the lead on the eleventh gap because of Scheffler’s uncharacteristic 2-over entrance 9, it appeared like Rahm had hoovered up the momentum and was able to run downhill on his option to the Wanamaker Trophy.
However beating Scheffler requires greater than only a single stretch of excellent golf. The now three-time main winner’s trademark just isn’t flash however steadiness and an uncanny means to be unflappable within the face of errors. The strain he places on his opponents occurs organically; his recreation is so sound and bulletproof that these making an attempt to beat him know the hassle required to outlast the most effective participant on the earth will likely 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 will likely be one which I keep in mind for a very long time,” Scheffler mentioned. “To step up after I wanted to probably the most, I will do not forget that for some time.”
Nineteen years in the past in the course of the 2006 PGA Championship, Luke Donald watched an analogous type of film unfold. Donald — then the Tenth-ranked participant on the earth — 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 downside: Tiger Woods shot a course-record 65 that day to go into Sunday in a tie for the lead with Donald. To that time, Woods had been 11-0 in majors the place he held a minimum of a share of the 54-hole lead.
“Tiger had this form of aura that you simply simply really feel like it’s essential do greater than it’s essential actually elevate your recreation to beat him,” Donald mentioned Sunday after ending his remaining spherical at Quail Hole. “And I believe he understood that.”
That Sunday, Woods and Donald performed within the remaining pairing collectively, and Woods shot 68 on his option to securing his twelfth main victory by 5 pictures 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 recreation, did not make too many errors and wore you down, and I definitely skilled that in 2006,” Donald mentioned of Woods. “I believe Scottie is an analogous type of participant when he will get the lead.”
Since Scheffler received the 2024 Masters and positioned himself firmly on prime of the game, so much has occurred. Xander Schauffele has received 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 received six occasions 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 match 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 era, and everybody else is just making an attempt to play catch-up.
“There have been occasions the place I really feel like I pressed,” DeChambeau, who completed tied for second place, mentioned. “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 obtained 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 as if each shot has a magnitude of drive and simply finds its manner up there,” Sam Burns mentioned.
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 together with his swing, he did not seem flustered. All week he had been working together with his coach, Randy Smith, on transferring his hips towards the goal extra effectively, and for a second, it appeared the unhealthy habits had been making their manner 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 via 15 holes, Scheffler’s victory felt inevitable as soon as once more.
“I felt like this was as onerous as I battled for a match in my profession,” mentioned Scheffler, whose driver was additionally deemed nonconforming earlier than the match, forcing him to play with a brand new one this week. “Ending off a significant championship is at all times troublesome. I did not have my greatest stuff, however I stored 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 result of his elite ballstriking. However that he can win with out his greatest after which win by so much when he does faucet into it, can also be akin to what Woods did in his prime.
“He simply does not get too excessive or low, however his recreation speaks for himself,” Donald mentioned. “And he hates to lose.”
As Scheffler has received extra and turn into a fixture within the sport’s highlight, he is allowed himself to point out 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 manner 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 mentioned once more after his remaining spherical. “It will be so much simpler if I might present up and be like, eh, win or lose, I am nonetheless going to go house and do no matter. Typically I really feel that manner. However on the finish of the day, this implies so much 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 mentioned. “I maintain equating it to different sports activities. You bought the basketball man, you at all times 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 top of 1 storyline, then Scheffler’s victory at Quail Hole was a well timed reminder of the one which solely grows stronger. McIlroy may be having the most effective 12 months within the sport, however the title of greatest participant on the earth nonetheless belongs to Scheffler.
