Hats off to Scheffler, he’s becoming
◆ Latest Masters win underlines world No 1’s form ◆ Dad-to-be won’t be taking his eye off the ball ◆ Mcginley hails American’s intimidating aura
The man who was in tears after suffering a record-breaking 9&7 defeat alongside Brooks Koepka in last year’s Ryder Cup and then had fans jokingly poke fun at him for that the following day at Marco Simone Golf Club on the outskirts of Rome has well and truly restored his pride.
Step forward Scottie Scheffler, now a multiple Masters champion and the only player other than Tiger Woods to have achieved that feat as world No 1, having been topranked when he won by three shots in 2022 then again as he eventually strolled to a fourshot success in the 88th edition of the Augusta National event on Sunday.
Yes, the 27-year-old American was aided on this occasion by Ludvig Aberg and Max Homa both running up untimely double bogeys on the back nine as they were still clinging to his coat-tails, as well as Collin Morikawa, who was playing in the final group with him, paying the price for being “greedy” as he ran up two such scores in the space of three holes around the turn. However, let’s not be fooled into thinking that this might have ended up differently because, even though he perhaps wasn’t firing on all cylinders over all four days at the Georgia venue, Scheffler is one of those players who not only has a killer touch when he’s up there on leaderboards but is also starting to intimidate his rivals when that’s the case.
In his role as one of the Golf Channel’s main analysts, Ryder Cup-winning captain Paul Mcginley had talked about his concerns over Scheffler being able to pull this one off on the final day due to his statistics earlier in the week throwing up some numbers that were below his normal standard. But, at the same time, fair play to him for then acknowledging what had set Scheffler apart as the dust settled on the opening major of the 2024 season.
“When push came to shove, like a great race horse coming into the last furlong, he just put his nose in front, went into overdrive and off he went,” said the Irishman. “The great players become intimidating forces. You think about Tiger Woods in 2000 [when the American won the US Open at Pebble Beach by 15 shots before storming to an equallyimpressive eightshot victory in The Open at St Andrews]. Through that entire year in the final round, there were onlyfourplayersthatmanaged to break 70 in his presence. This year, thus far, I wouldn’t say Scottie is intimidating, but you can win your way there. It’s days like this, rounds like this, that build that legend to mythical proportions.”
In his last four events, Scheffler has finished 1st-1st-2nd1st. In challenging conditions for this tournament, he broke par in three of the four rounds and hasn’t signed for a score over par this year. In short, he’s turning into a machine and, though his world is about to change off the golf course, the dad-to-be doesn’t intend to take his foot off the pedal heading into next month’s PGA Championship at Valhalla then the US Open and The Open at Pinehurst and Royal Troon respectively.
“Well, I'm definitely not going to intentionally take my eye off the ball,” declared Scheffler as he savoured his success, which saw him become the secondquickest player to win multiple Green Jackets after Horton Smith, who did the trick in two of the first three stagings while Scheffler did it in just six starts. “I will definitely enjoy the birth of my first child. My priorities will change here very soon. My son or daughter will now be the main priority, along with my wife, so golf will now be probably fourth in line. But, with that being said, I still love competing. I don't plan on taking my eye off the ball anytime soon, that's for sure.”
There’s also no danger of him making any changes that could knock him off his stride and especially so when it comes to the man on his bag, as Teddy Scott now has four Masters wins to his name, having also been at Bubba Watson’s side as he became a two-time champion here in 2012 and 2014. “I'm just pinching myself, honestly,” said Scott of the run of dazzling form he’s now seeing from Scheffler. “I don't really know what I'm seeing. The guy is special. He's a different kind of special. I think we're all seeing it, and we're all questioning where did this come from? When he called me, I had no idea he was that good.”
If Scheffler had a weakness – and it still does show its face every now and again – then it was with a putter in his hand. In 2023, he ranked first in nine different categories but was 162nd out of 193 players when it came to putting. He turned to an Englishman, Phil Kenyon, to try to do something about that and, since starting to work together around the time of thatrydercupinrome,there’s been a vast improvement. It was no surprise, therefore, to hear Scheffler acknowledge Kenyon’s contribution along, of course, with a massive input over the years from his longtime coach Randy Smith.
On Kenyon, he said: “I had watched Phil before and watched him coach players. When you're out here as long as I've been, I just see stuff, and I loved the way Phil coached. I could tell he was open-minded, and that's the type of people I like to work with. And we kind of hit the ground running in the fall. Like Randy, Phil is also a guy that doesn't have a big ego. He just wants what's best for his players. I'm really, really fortunate to have those two guys as part of my team.”
I will definitely enjoy the birth of my first child. My priorities will change very soon Scottie Scheffler