Scheffler wins revisionist major title
Twenty years from now, revisionist history will show that Scottie Scheffler, not the similarly surnamed Xander Schauffele won the 2024 PGA Championship.
At least that’s my revisionist history. It is my opinion that if Scheffler had not been handcuffed and jailed Friday morning after getting arrested at the entrance of Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, the world’s No. 1-ranked player would have had about a 90% chance of lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday.
Instead, Schauffele won his first major championship, holding off Bryson DeChambeau and Viktor Hovland down the stretch to win by one shot. Good for Schauffele. Played great. Bad for Scheffler, whose game is so strong he stood a fair chance of becoming the first player ever to win the Grand Slam – Masters, PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open – in the same season.
Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship back-to-back in March, then won his second Masters in April, followed a week later by the RBC Heritage. The 27year-old Texan was on a Tiger-like roll. Then came Friday morning at the PGA Championship, when police say a Louisville officer was injured after Scheffler kept driving his SUV when ordered to stop.
Scheffler showed mental resilience by shooting a 5-under-par 66 only hours after being released from jail, but the emotional heavy lifting caught up with him Saturday when he shot 73, breaking a streak of 42 consecutive PGA Tour rounds under par. He also played Saturday’s round without his normal caddie, Ted Scott, who took the day off to attend his daughter’s graduation.
Scheffler rebounded nicely Sunday with a 65 to finish tied for eighth, which further jump-started the hypotheticals. What if Scheffler’s Friday tee time had been in the afternoon instead of the morning when traffic confusion was at its worst following the tragic death of a pedestrian? What if a cop more familiar with tournament procedures – Scheffler was driving a tournament-marked SUV – had been on duty? What if Scheffler had stopped when ordered to?
Speculation is often silly and frustrating. What if Ohio State’s Kyle McCord had completed the pass to Marvin Harrison Jr. instead of having it intercepted by Michigan with 25 seconds left in last season’s loss to the Wolverines? So on one hand, replaying the PGA Championship with Scheffler winning is an exercise in futility.
But on the other hand, it makes sense that Scheffler would have been in the hunt on Sunday if Friday’s unfortunate circumstances had not occurred. And with Scheffler in the hunt, Schauffele and the other contenders would have had their hands full and minds troubled.
It didn’t turn out that way, of course. But the what-ifs provide a juicy reordering of history nonetheless.
In winning the PGA Championship, Schauffele lost the label of best player without a major championship. The Californian entered the tournament having collected 12 top-10s in majors, including six top-5s, to go with seven PGA Tour victories.
Who takes his place on that dubious list? My picks, which exclude Viktor Hovland, who at age 26 is too young to carry the burden of major championship failure:
1. Rickie Fowler. The fan favorite’s game is not what it once was, but at age 35 he’s still too young to move off the current player list and onto the all-time list that includes Colin Montgomerie, Steve Stricker and Lee Westwood. Fowler has 13 top-10s in majors, including nine top-5s, to go with six PGA Tour victories
2. Tony Finau. Funny how this works. As the 34-year-old has won more often on tour (six times), increased attention falls upon his inability to win majors. He has 10 top-10s, including four top-5s, in golf ’s biggest events.
3. Tommy Fleetwood. This one is tricky, because with no wins on the PGA Tour, can the Englishman be considered the best of anything? But the 33-yearold has seven top-5s in majors since 2017 and always seems to fall just short on major championship Sundays.
4. Patrick Cantlay. The 32-year-old is better known for being a slow player than one who has not won majors, but he has enough swings and misses to qualify. The two-time winner of the Memorial Tournament owns eight tour wins and four top-10s in majors, including one top-5.
5. Max Homa. As his game continues to improve, the pressure increases on the popular 33-year-old to win a major. Homa has six tour victories and two top-10s in majors.