Golf is in need of a star. Scheffler is stepping up
AUGUSTA, GA.
The one-and-only, the original was fading at a heartbreaking rate right before our eyes. So by Sunday afternoon at the Masters, auditions for the next Tiger Woods — or a reasonable facsimile — had become even more urgent.
Good news, though. Scottie Scheffler stepped up and dazzled. He once more confirmed that he is the most certain thing in golf this side of overpriced cart fees. The kind of dominance he displayed in winning his second Masters in three years dripped with Tigeresque undertones.
For another convenient comparison point, there’s this: Woods won his second Masters in his fifth professional start at Augusta. Scheffler just won his second in his fifth appearance. Make of that what you will.
Most Masters, they say, don’t begin until the back nine on Sunday. Scheffler’s Masters just go there for a nap. When he won in 2022, he never trailed by fewer than three strokes over the final 15 holes. Took him a little longer this time to gain that sort of edge, but by No. 12 he was three clear and gaining separation. How about six birdies over his last 11 holes — just one less than the total of his next four closest pursuers combined over the same stretch?
“I did not ever let myself get attached to the lead. I just tried to keep pushing,” Scheffler said afterward.
At the end — no matter the static of a momentary four-way tie for the lead early in the day — he was as unchallenged as a Russian president on election day. Scheffler finished 11under and 4 strokes up on the Swedish Masters rookie Ludvig Aberg.
And 7 up on a trio tied for third.
Golf needed that kind of display of dominance after what it lived through earlier in the day. An hour before Scheffler teed off for his final round, Woods had finished just about the worst Masters of his life.
The five-time Masters champion had hung a 77 atop his 82 on Saturday to come in 16-over for the tournament and sad, dead last on the weekend leaderboard. Not that he had been much of a factor since winning here in 2019, but the depth of Woods’ decline was still wrenching. It hurt the eyes to watch, almost like staring into an eclipse without the blackout glasses. And it drove home again just how badly this fractured game needs one true star to lead it.
No one else was going to step up and volunteer for the job Sunday. No one was going to match Scheffler for calm under fire.
In a matchup of cool customers in these majors, where low heartbeat so often wins, put your money on the lanky Texan with the old west stoicism every time.
One by one, those chasing Scheffler spit the bit. Morikawa suffered two double bogies in three holes before reaching the heart of Amen Corner.
Max Homa spent a good part of the afternoon searching for his ball in the lovely ground cover behind the 12th green, before settling for double bogey there.
Surprisingly, Scheffler’s most serious challenger was the 24-year-old Swede playing in not only his first Masters, but also his first major. But when Aberg put his approach to No. 11 in the drink, he had just put his scorecard in a longboat, set it on fire and sent it up Rae’s Creek for a proper Viking funeral.
Watching Scheffler whale on a golf ball with his feet flying around in so many unconventional directions, he looks like a guy auditioning for “Dancing with the Stars,” not the next great golfer. (Home team in ALL CAPS)
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NATIONAL LEAGUE
Team Line Team
San Francisco -136 MIAMI
PHILADELPHIA -250 Colorado Pittsburgh OFF N.Y. METS San Diego -132 MILWAUKEE ARIZONA -120 Chicago Cubs L.A. DODGERS OFF Washington AMERICAN LEAGUE
Team Line Team
Cleveland -110 BOSTON BALTIMORE -166 Minnesota Texas OFF DETROIT TAMPA BAY -166 L.A. Angels N.Y. Yankees -124 TORONTO Kansas City OFF CHI. W.S.
Line +116 +205
OFF +112 +102
OFF
Line -106 +140 OFF +140 +106 OFF
But his record confirms that pretty can’t trump performance. Scheffler’s on a ridiculous — dare we say Tiger-like — roll of late. This Masters makes it three wins in his last four events, with a T-2 thrown in. None of his 35 rounds this year have been over par. He hasn’t missed a cut since August 2022.
The great Scheffler dichotomy is in how he balances a very strong professed sense of perspective with an insatiable hunger to win.
On one hand, as he anticipates the birth of his first child, he says: “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 (add his faith in there, too).
“But I love winning. I hate losing. I really do. And when you’re here in the biggest moments, when I’m sitting there with the lead on Sunday, I really, really want to win badly,” Scheffler said.
Golf is chasing one man again. And the game so badly needs that kind of clarity, now more than ever.
INTERLEAGUE Team Line Atlanta -118 St. Louis -154 SEATTLE -136
Team HOUSTON OAKLAND Cincinnati
Team Line O/U L.A. Lakers 1 (244) Golden State 2½ (223½)
Team FLORIDA BOSTON Carolina Detroit PHILA. WINNIPEG VEGAS VANCOUVER
Line -128 -194 -295 -152 -146 -215 -335 -205
Team N. ORLEANS SACRAMENTO
Team Toronto Ottawa COLUMBUS MONTREAL Washington Seattle Chicago Calgary
+100 +130 +116
Line +106 +160 +235 +126 +122 +176 +265 +168