Red hot Scheffler sets sights on PGA Championship

Beware PGA Tour, Scottie Scheffler is on a roll. Indeed, as of mid-April the 25-year-old Dallas resident and top-ranked golfer on Tour had won four of the last six tournaments he’d entered in 2022, topped by his first career victory in the Masters.

In that April 7-10 major at Georgia’s Augusta National, he put in a commanding performance, taking the lead in the second round and building it to six strokes on Sunday. So dominant was he that he was able to shoot a double bogey on the 72nd hole – in the process missing two four-foot putts – and still managed to come in three shots ahead of his closest pursuer, Rory McIlroy. Not bad for a guy whose nerves were so on edge that morning that he needed to be talked down by his wife.

He’s clearly got the hot hand and seems to have all his weapons working – he’s long, he’s accurate and he can putt, that double bogey notwithstanding. Furthermore, no one on a golf course is more unflappable than Scottie Scheffler.

But hot streaks can easily turn cold and sustained runs are rare. So don’t expect the stellar field to automatically lie down when Scheffler steps to the first tee in the year’s second major, the PGA Championship, which airs Thursday through Sunday, May 19-22, on ESPN and CBS, from the Championship Course at Southern Hills in Tulsa, Okla.