Tag: Patrick Cantlay

Lynch: The PGA Tour is right to cut players and fields, but the wrong guys are making that call

The Tour’s longstanding raison d’être — creating playing opportunities for members — is dead.

Pity the PGA Tour’s proletariat, who are now fretting about two votes in November that could jeopardize much of what they feel entitled to. Some of them might even be less wary of a former California prosecutor than they are of a prosecutorial Californian. After all, Kamala Harris doesn’t much care about reshaping the PGA Tour, but Patrick Cantlay sure does.

On Nov. 18, Cantlay and his fellow Policy Board members will vote on an extensive slate of proposals that will have an enormous impact on rank and file Tour members. Potential changes include reducing fields in most regular tournaments from 156 competitors to 144, and in many cases 120; cutting the number of fully exempt players from 125 to 100; slashing by one-third the number of cards earned via the Korn Ferry Tour; and reducing or eliminating Monday qualifiers, which award four spots most weeks.

More: PGA Tour shares potential changes to field sizes, eligibility, pace of play detailed in memo to players

Some players will see an unfair narrowing of pathways to make a living; others will welcome a toughening of competitive standards. Either way, it represents revolutionary change for an organization whose members revere Adam Smith but are accustomed to seeing their workplace run as though Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were the commish.

Capitalism for thee, socialism for me!

Unlike most recent innovations — signature events, equity ownership grants, huge growth in prize money — these latest proposals aren’t a counter against LIV Golf but rather a reflection of the PGA Tour’s new for-profit status. After all, who prizes streamlined simplicity more than the private equity investors players took on board 10 months ago?

The Tour’s longstanding raison d’être — creating playing opportunities for members, an objective on which its executives were bonused — is dead. Remaking a complacent product for a competitive market means it’s now about earning opportunities. Every proposal is defensible, if debatable. (Except the elimination of Monday qualifiers; that’s the ultimate meritocracy and ought to be expanded and streamed as additive to the Tour’s weekly narrative.) And while it’s easy to characterize these likely changes as another sop to top stars, the truth is that any reform is unlikely to ever discomfit the Tour’s one percent.

These proposals emerged from the Players Advisory Council, a 16-man committee made up of both superstars and journeymen, and they administer an overdue dose of reality. Players are fond of pointing the finger at HQ when it comes to bloat — not unfairly, it must be said — so there’s irony in the first announced layoffs being players themselves. Whether in the glass-walled offices of Ponte Vedra or the wood-paneled locker rooms on Tour, too many people are paid too much money for too little. More than 600 guys have made starts on Tour this year, and the average inside-the-ropes earnings currently stands at $2,030,418. That’s a lot of money for what is, comparatively speaking, a lot of mediocrity.

Finally, the Tour has reached the stage of making incremental changes to better its product rather than to slake the cash thirst of its stars. There’s a long way to go — not least in delivering a product that focuses more on fans than players — but the fact that proper improvements are imminent doesn’t necessarily mean the right folks are making the decisions.

The Tour has always boasted of being a member-led organization, even when it was only nominally so. Since the backlash to the Framework Agreement with the Saudis and the subsequent governance reforms, players are now absolutely calling the shots. In fact, three Policy Board members who will vote on the recommendations — Peter Malnati, Webb Simpson and Jordan Spieth — are perilously close to finding themselves at the mercy of the unforgiving new dispensation they could usher in.

It won’t happen — not imminently, and probably not at all — but Tour players need to step back and defer to executives on fraught decisions around eligibility. And if they don’t trust executives to weigh the greater good of the business, they ought to find replacements. If there’s one lesson to be drawn from the last few years it’s that golfers will make selfish decisions based on where they are in their careers, so empowering them to determine the ability of colleagues to earn a living won’t end well. Just consider the delicate (and legally perilous) decisions that are looming, not least permitting the return of LIV defectors — the same guys they don’t currently have to beat to win tournaments and FedEx Cup bonuses.

Rank-and-file members squeezed out of opportunities, sponsors paying major league prices for minor-league lineups, tournaments diminished in the schedule abyss between premier events, broadcasters paying for a product they aren’t getting, fans woefully underserved with a commodity that is both diluted and repetitive, employees at headquarters facing the prospect of redundancies — the collateral damage of the ‘git me some’ era is widespread. The only constituency that will emerge unscathed is those whose greed set it all in motion: the elite players.

But even those who will be hurt by the proposed changes largely accept that the Nov. 18 vote — unlike that other one, 13 days earlier — is a foregone conclusion. And necessary. As it has been written, so it shall be done.

‘He’s an assassin:’ Patrick Cantlay does it again in near darkness to give U.S. 11-7 lead at 2024 Presidents Cup

“I can tell you one thing, I’m never going to play him in the dark or at night.”

MONTREAL – Patrick Cantlay is a menace late on Saturday afternoon in big international team competition.

One year after he gave the U.S. a glimmer of hope at the Ryder Cup in Rome with a clutch putt in the gloaming to beat Rory McIlroy and Matt Fitzpatrick, Cantlay sank a 15-foot birdie putt at 18 at Royal Montreal to win an exhilarating match that gave the U.S. an 11-7 leading and may have broken the International Team’s spirit at the 2024 Presidents Cup. Teammate Sam Burns called him an assassin and Cantlay’s partner, Xander Schauffele echoed that sentiment.

“I think it’s pretty fitting, it being all dark and all,” he said. “I could barely see him out there. Reading the putt with him was pretty entertaining, using some light from the board. I can tell you one thing, I’m never going to play him in the dark or at night. I’ll just wait for the morning.”

Cantlay’s birdie sent the Americans circling the green into a frenzy and secured a 1-up win over South Korea’s Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim in a match that had everything: incredible putts, hole outs, theatrics bordering on unsportsmanlike behavior, pettiness and it all coming down to a putt off at 18. It was the type of match that no one deserved to lose but Patty Ice proved he has a little more ice in his veins.

“Man, did it feel good when P.C. made that putt there in the dark,” Schauffele said.

Presidents Cup: Leaderboard | Gala photos | Photos

https://twitter.com/PresidentsCup/status/1840173039717363778

This was a rematch of Saturday’s foursomes at the 2022 Presidents Cup in which the South Korean pair stole a full point and knocked off the seemingly invincible American team. Kim squared already had knocked off Americans Keegan Bradley and Wyndham Clark in morning four-ball when they were the top two putters of the session.

And they weren’t done making putts. In the afternoon, the Kims fell 2 down through six holes. It was at six where Cantlay refused to give a short putt to Kim, and when the hole was over he pantomimed measuring the length of his putt that he was forced to make. Ian Kim or should we say Tom Poulter – he certainly has a way of getting under the skin of his U.S. opponents much like Ian Poulter once did at the Ryder Cup – answered with a 37-foot birdie putt at the ninth and danced around the green with an array of fist pumps. His theatrics pumped up the crowd and he celebrated in similar fashion one hole later when Si Woo Kim sank a 15-foot birdie putt to even the match.

The back and forth affair also included ridiculous par saves at 11 with Si Woo Kim drilling a 19-footer and Cantlay answering from 16 feet. Every time the U.S. pulled ahead as it did with a win at 13, the Internationals bounced back with a win as it did at 14. Schauffele made his own bomb from 33 feet at 15 and the Americans celebrated with a restrained knuckles tap and Schauffele giving Cantlay a slap on the butt.

Kim’s approach at 16 missed right and plugged in the grass above the greenside bunker. Schauffele was the one who eventually found it during a mad search by players and caddies and the Internationals were granted a free drop.

“He got a great lie,” John Wood reported on NBC.

Still, Si Woo Kim was shortsided and anything inside 5 feet would be outstanding. Kim opened his sand wedge wide and lofted his ball high in the air. It landed softly and turned into the hole. As Sahith Theegala had dubbed it earlier in the week, a Mongolian Reversal of the highest order as instead of a good chance of falling 2 down with 2 to go, the match suddenly was tied once more.

“Hurt more than I thought it would,” Schauffele said. “Pat and I were sitting back there, we both have match play minds, and we both said Si Woo’s going to get this up-and-down, and then he holed it. Pat looked at me and said, ‘I guess 4 is not enough, we’re going to make some birdies.’ That’s exactly what P.C. did coming in.”

Did he ever.

“That was big,” U.S. Captain Jim Furyk said. “If you had to hand select someone to hit a big putt on your team, I think Pat would come to a lot of people’s minds.”

Cantlay’s 17-footer, aimed “a cup outside with some speed,” made sure the U.S. wouldn’t lose the final match. Si Woo Kim still had a chance to tie the hole but he finally flinched and missed a big putt from an inch closer than Cantlay.

This was the ninth career Presidents Cup match for Cantlay and Schuaffele together, the most in event history. They’ll likely play many more in the years to come but it will be hard to top this one when Patty Ice was Patty Clutch.

Patrick Cantlay, two-time winner Jordan Spieth headline the field for the 2024 John Deere Classic

Here’s the field for next week’s event.

Before the PGA Tour heads over the pond for the Scottish Open and The Open — the final men’s major championship of the year — it takes a trip to Silvis, Illinois, for the 2024 John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run.

World No. 8 Patrick Cantlay highlights the field and will be joined by Jason Day, Sungjae Im, Jake Knapp and Jordan Spieth.

Spieth, who tied for 63rd at the Travelers Championship last week, is a two-time John Deere Classic winner (2013, 2015). His 2013 title was the Texan’s first Tour win.

Here’s a look at the complete field for next week’s John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run.

Photos of Patrick Cantlay at the 2024 U.S. Open

Patrick Cantlay came so close to winning the Open.

Former UCLA golfer Patrick Cantlay had a magical run at the 2024 U.S. Open. He fell just short of winning it all and ended up tied for third behind Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy.

Still, it was another impressive performance from Cantlay as he continued to showcase his skills on the biggest stage.

UCLA fans sure were excited to see Cantlay there and playing well, and it’s only a matter of time before he gets a major win in golf.

Here are some of the best photos from Cantlay’s run at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

Former UCLA star Patrick Cantlay falls short of U.S. Open win

What a run for Cantlay.

The 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 had everybody buzzing for the past few days. The Bryson DeChambeau-Rory McIlroy battle was fun to watch. For UCLA fans, there were a couple familiar names with both Patrick Cantlay and Omar Morales in the field.

Cantlay had the lead after a start of 65 in the opening round, but he fell short of the title as McIlroy and DeChambeau passed him up.

Putting was a big reason for him dropping down, as Cantlay said after the Open ended (h/t Steve Reed of The Associated Press).

“All in all I thought I played pretty solid. Could have holed a few more putts. If I would have putted like I did (on Saturday), I would have been right there.”

Tony Finau and Cantlay tied for third place at 4-under, so it was still a magnificent run for the former Bruins star.

2024 U.S. Open: Patrick Cantlay’s golf equipment at Pinehurst

A complete list of the golf equipment Patrick Cantlay is using at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.

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A complete list of the golf equipment Patrick Cantlay is using at the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2:

DRIVER: Titleist GT2 (9 degrees), with Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 60X shaft

FAIRWAY WOODS: Titleist TSR2+ (14.5 degrees), with Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 70X shaft; Titleist TS2 (21 degrees), with Mitsubishi Diamana ZF 80X shaft

IRONS: Titleist 718 AP2 (4-9), with True Temper Dynamic Gold X100 shafts

WEDGES: Titleist Vokey Design SM7 (46, 52 degrees), SM9 (56 degrees bent to 57 and 60 degrees bent to 61), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S300 shafts

PUTTER: Scotty Cameron Phantom X5

BALL: Titleist Pro V1x

GRIPS: Golf Pride Tour Velvet (full swing)

Patrick Cantlay shoots a 5-under 65 to grab the early lead at the 2024 U.S. Open

“A lot of balls on the fairway. Left the ball in the right spots, for the most part,” Cantlay said.

PINEHURST, N.C. – Teeing off at 7:40 a.m. on Thursday from the 10th tee, Patrick Cantlay knew that with the lack of wind and the softest the course may play, these likely were the best conditions he’d see all week at Pinehurst No. 2. The 32-year-old Cantlay took advantage, making six birdies and posting 5-under 65 to grab the early first round lead at the 124th U.S. Open.

“Played pretty solid most of the way. I thought the golf course played pretty difficult. But drove it well. A lot of balls on the fairway. Left the ball in the right spots, for the most part,” Cantlay said.

He got into red figures early by sinking a 35-foot birdie putt at No. 11, but gave a stroke back when he missed the green to the left and failed to get up and down at the par-3 15th. That proved to be his lone bogey of the day and his short game otherwise shined: he was seven of eight in scrambling and topped the field in Strokes Gained: Around the Green.

With a warm sun beating down on his neck, Cantlay rolled in a 17-foot birdie at 18 to get back into red figures and stuck a short iron to five feet at the first for back-to-back birdies. He followed suit with consecutive birdies again at Nos. 5 and 6, the latter thanks to holing a 20-footer. He was happy to see his putter back in his good graces, highlighting a tricky five-foot save at No. 7.

U.S. OPEN: Leaderboard | Hole-by-hole | How to watch | Flyovers

“Made a bunch of putts inside, eight feet. I think around this golf course, you’re going to leave yourself putts inside eight feet. That four- to eight-foot range. It important that you hole out,” he said. “I did that well today.”

That included at No. 8, where he made his final birdie of the day after sticking his approach from 176 yards to four feet.

“It was a little left of where I was aiming, but that’s why you aim in the right spot,” he said.

Cantlay is making his ninth appearance at the U.S. Open, and recorded his best result in the championship last year, finishing T-13. Ranked ninth in the world, Cantlay is winless in more than a year and is one of four players in the top 10 – along with Viktor Hovland, Ludvig Aberg and Max Homa – seeking that elusive first major. He missed the cut last week at the Memorial, a tournament he has won twice, and has been a non-factor at the first two majors.

“I’ve been working really hard on my game, and usually when you make just a couple changes and you’re working really hard, it’s just a matter of time,” Cantlay said.

2024 U.S. Open
Ludvig Aberg reacts on the eleventh hole during the first round of the U.S. Open golf tournament. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

Aberg had his driver clicking on all cylinders. He hit all 14 fairways in the first round and played judiciously with his approach shots.

“Staying very disciplined is important. There’s a lot of pins where you don’t really think about going for,” said Aberg, who played here previously at the 2019 U.S. Amateur.

He followed his game plan well, carding 4-under 66 to sit alone in second. The 24-year-old Swede is seeking to become the first player from his country to win the U.S. Open and the first to win in his championship debut since Francis Ouimet in 1913. France’s Matthieu Pavon eagled both of the par 5s and posted 3-under 67. Tiger Woods scattered six bogeys on his card and shot 4-over 74. He’ll be battling the cutline on Friday.

“I thought I did the one thing I needed to do today, which is drive the ball well,” he said. “I did that, I just didn’t capitalize on any of it.”

Cantlay, on the other hand, did just that. If his lead stands at the end of the day, it would be Cantlay’s sixth 18-hole lead/co-lead in individual stroke-play events on Tour, and perhaps an ominous sign for his chances. He’s 0-for-5 converting the victory. But he’s pleased that he had the right answers to the questions the famed Donald Ross layout served up in round one and knows that the test is only going to get harder.

“With the weather cooperating, it being warm, I imagine they can get the golf course as difficult as they want,” Cantlay said. “With the Bermuda greens and no rain in the forecast, I expect the golf course to play very difficult in the next few days.”

Lynch: The PGA Tour’s new committee will be mocked, but it’s the last hope for grown-ups to take charge

The Transaction Subcommittee’s anodyne name belies its importance.

Committees often have about as much utility as ashtrays on motorcycles, and in golf usually serve only as a mechanism to butcher great courses and honor the milquetoast. On occasion, however, they can be impactful. The three-man panel that negotiated the PGA Tour’s Framework Agreement with the Saudis last summer certainly made an impression, not least because other Policy Board members didn’t know of its existence nor much care for its output.

The backlash to that secretive process sparked a time-consuming and overdue governance review that is essential as the Tour shapeshifts from an indolent non-profit with complacent members into a modern league with shareholders and investors. A handful of oversight committees have now been established at PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit entity that runs the business. Most are standard operating procedurals, but one panel in particular suggests the Tour is about to move beyond childish bickering and begin letting grown-ups shape its future.

The Transaction Subcommittee’s anodyne name belies its importance. It will handle talks with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia on a potential deal and make a recommendation to the full Policy Board — one the politburo is unlikely to reject from its hand-picked negotiators. Committee members include Enterprises chairman Joe Gorder, commissioner Jay Monahan and John Henry, the principal of Strategic Sports Group, which just invested a billion-five into the product. There are also four players: Joe Ogilvie (retired, and now a humble money manager), Tiger Woods, Adam Scott and Rory McIlroy. In short, a lot of people unaccustomed to making business calls by committee.

No one is on the panel to present moral arguments about being in business with a despot. Those who harbor any such reservations will check them at the door and treat negotiations as a matter of commerce, not conscience. But it is at least a committee of adults, something sorely needed in this sorry mess.

The PGA Tour has been consumed with dual crises, one internal, one ex-. The latter is obvious — the LIV threat, caused by the depth of Saudi pockets and the shallowness of character among the Tour’s own membership. The internal dispute mostly remained behind boardroom doors until spilling into the open this week when a faction of player-directors (Woods, Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth) blocked an effort to reappoint McIlroy to the Policy Board he left six months ago.

The rebuff wasn’t unjustified. There must be a legitimate and transparent process governing board appointments and having Webb Simpson nominate McIlroy as his successor ain’t either. Still, there was no hand-wringing when Woods was added to the board in the middle of the night, the only member without (still) an expiration date for his term. The Pope of Ponte Vedra serves at his own discretion, it seems. But the stiff-arming of McIlroy exposed how personal grievances have masqueraded as governance concerns.

There are ample misgivings about how the Tour is run and most are genuinely held and valid. But some guys just remain angry at being blindsided by the Framework Agreement, while others are pissed because they left LIV’s millions on the table and know their moment has passed. They want the heads of those who architected the June 6 deal — Monahan, Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne — and the thirst for retribution has paralyzed the organization at a perilous time.

That faction sees McIlroy as too close to their nemeses, but in balking at his return to the board they might have overplayed their hand. A public perception now exists that the Cantlay camp wields power, which means that credit for progress — or, more likely, blame for a lack thereof — is destined for the same desks.

Thus McIlroy now finds himself used by both sides. Having long been a proxy for executives in fighting the public battle against LIV, he is now seconded to the Transactions Committee as a convenient means of providing cover for the players who didn’t want him to have a board vote, but who fear even more scrutiny for having rejected him. The Tour is fortunate that he’s sufficiently toughened (or soft) to endure its maladroit bungling in his effort to contribute to a solution. McIlroy’s relationships with stakeholders on both sides will be useful to the committee, but not enough to single-handedly forge a settlement in golf’s civil war. Even a good-faith effort might still mean the Tour moves forward without a toxic association with the PIF.

Whatever the outcome, the spectacle of backroom squabbling has focused a harsh light on the role of players in management. The to-ings and fro-ings of recent years prove that most players will make decisions based upon personal priorities, not the broader good of the sport or a tour. That tendency is incompatible with the executive functions they now feel entitled to exercise.

If nothing else, perhaps this committee will hasten a day when all of them can get back to adding value where they do it best — inside the ropes — and leave the actual business to those qualified for the challenges.

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Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay team up alongside fried oysters, crawfish, gumbo at Zurich Classic of New Orleans

No stop on the PGA Tour packs more flavor than the Zurich Classic.

AVONDALE, La. — With fried oysters and crawfish served on the driving range and gumbo simmering in hospitality areas, no stop on the PGA Tour packs more flavor than the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana.

The first shots of this year’s tournament will be hit on Thursday, the same day as the start of New Orleans Jazz Fest, and with the weather forecast calling for sunshine and warm temperatures to last through the week, the whole Bayou is primed for another party.

With its blend of Creole, Cajan, Spanish and West African influences, New Orleans is one of America’s unique cities, so it is fitting that this tournament has been unique on the PGA Tour schedule for the last seven years.

Starting in 2014, the Zurich has been the PGA Tour’s only two-man team event. Highlighting the field this year is an Irish duo, Ryder Cup stars Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, along with the defending champions, Davis Riley and Nick Hardy, and the 2022 winners, American Ryder Cup standouts Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay.

ZURICH: 10 teams to watch | Thursday tee times

“We started as a team at the Presidents Cup in Australia (in 2019),” Cantlay said after playing some practice holes with Schauffele on Tuesday afternoon. “Fred Couples and Tiger Woods put us together. They thought that with both of us being from California and being a similar age that we’d make a good pairing. We had a great time that week and won some pivotal matches.”

Instead of the typical 72-hole, stroke-play format used at nearly all PGA Tour events, the Zurich Classic features 18 holes of four-ball (commonly referred to as best ball) in the first and third rounds, with each golfer playing his ball and the lowest score counting for that hole. In the second and fourth rounds, the format changes to 18 holes of foursomes, which is often referred to as alternate shot. In those rounds, players will take turns hitting the same ball, which invariable rachets up the pressure because no one wants to hit a bad shot and leave his partner in a tough spot.

Standing in the shade behind the 18th hole’s grandstands Tuesday, Schauffele could not remember an instance of Cantlay putting him in a bad spot during alternate shot. However, he remarked that Cantlay had bailed him out several times after Schauffele felt he hit a less-than-great shot.

“Patrick is such a good chipper and it’s so hard around here,” Schauffele said. “There’ve been several times when he’ll leave me in a green-light spot, when you’ll get up-and-down 80 percent of the time or more, and then I’ll hit it to like 7 feet. Deep down, I know that he’d hit it to 2 feet or a tap in. Even the year we won, there were three or four holes in a row when he hit me to tap-in range. We’ll smile and start laughing, then I’d hit it to like 8 feet and he’d make the 8-footer.”

New Orleans has hosted Super Bowls and Final Fours and annually is home to massive Mardi Gras parades. Bourbon Street is probably the most “well hydrated” 13 blocks in the United States. If you want a great meal and a good time, this is the place to be. But, with more than $1.2 million going to each member of the winning team, along with a two-year exemption on the PGA Tour, entry into the three remaining signature events and 400 FedEx Cup points, the party needs to be put on hold. And, in some ways, this week is a first audition for bigger things to come this fall.

“It’s a warm-up, of sorts,” Schauffele said. Pat and I have been around each other for several years, competing on teams together, and it’s always a goal for both of us to qualify for Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups. This is a nice warm-up.”

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Scottie Scheffler continues dominant run with 2024 RBC Heritage win

The world No. 1 has now won in four of his last five starts.

Scottie Scheffler spent an extra night in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, which typically wouldn’t be such a drag if not for his wife Meredith being pregnant back home in Dallas and awaiting the couple’s first child later this month.

But Mother Nature had other plans, forcing Scheffler to return to Harbour Town Golf Links on Monday morning to play his final three holes of the 2024 RBC Heritage and wrap up his fourth PGA Tour title in his past five starts.

One week and one day after Scheffler slipped into the famed Green Jacket awarded to the Masters champ for the second time in three years, the 27-year-old Texan added another colorful jacket – this time in trademark Tartan – to his closet and became the first reigning Masters champion to win the RBC Heritage since Bernhard Langer in 1985.

Scheffler, who was 4-under through 15 holes in the final round and 20-under overall when play was suspended due to darkness on Sunday, made two pars and a finishing bogey and signed for a 3-under 68 on Monday, three shots better than Sahith Theegala (68) and four better than reigning U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark (65) and past FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay (68). Scheffler banked another $3.6 million to surpass $18 million in earnings this season – and it’s still April.

“I didn’t show up here just to have some sort of ceremony and have people tell me congratulations,” said Scheffler of avoiding a post-Masters victory hangover. “I came here with a purpose.”

CBS Sports roving reporter Colt Knost, who grew up with Scheffler following him around Dallas’s Royal Oaks Golf Club, already has one of the best nicknames in golf: The Big Gravy. But he may have earned another one – Knost-radamus – for a prediction seemingly as accurate as those of the 16th century French astrologer Nostradamus. In February 2022, when Scheffler won his first Tour title at the WM Phoenix Open, Knost proclaimed him to be “a worldbeater,” and added, “Now that he’s got that first one, I think the floodgates are going to open for him.”

Scheffler’s latest triumph is his 10th career title, the first player to win that many times (or more) in three seasons since Dustin Johnson did so between 2015-16 and 2017-18. There’s no indication that this flood of success for the world No. 1 will stop any time soon. Did Knost imagine Scheffler would dominate on the PGA Tour? “I really did,” he said. “He never plays badly and he’s one of the most competitive people I’ve ever met. He will never just go through the motions.”

Theegala, who recalled playing against Scheffler for the first time in the Starburst Junior Golf Classic at Waco, Texas, didn’t remember ever beating Scheffler, who is a year older than him, in a single junior tournament. Competing with Scheffler, who leads the Tour in 30 statistical categories this season, hasn’t gotten any easier lately. “It’s pretty epic,” Theegala said of Scheffler, who has shot even par or better in all 40 rounds this season and became the first player to win four times in five starts since Tiger Woods in 2007-08. “I was talking to Carl, my caddie, walking to 15 tee box. I was like, I grew up watching the end of Tiger, got to see Rory, DJ, Jordan, like all these guys kind of dominate for a period of time, and I was like, we could be in the midst of something really, really special.”

Some observers suggested that Scheffler would skip the RBC Heritage but Scheffler said he never wavered in his commitment to the tournament. After winning the Masters, Scheffler flew home to Dallas to be with Meredith and didn’t show up to Hilton Head until Tuesday. He played only a nine-hole practice round on Wednesday and spotted much of the field a head start, shanking a bunker shot at his third hole in the first round, making double bogey and needing two late birdies to post 69. He trailed by six and complained of fatigue. But after recharging his batteries, he didn’t make a single bogey or worse until the 72nd hole of the tournament, and even in that case Scheffler said he was counting that one as a par as he played the smart shots with a comfortable lead. He stormed back with a 65 on Friday and was lurking three back before reminding everyone who is boss with a bogey-free 63 to claim a one-stroke lead.

In the final round, Scheffler laid down the hammer early, chipping in at the par-5 second hole from 53 feet for eagle. His bump-and-run, executed to perfection, marked his 11th hole-out of the season. He tacked on a birdie at the par-5 fifth and strung together six consecutive pars before the horn blew. When play resumed he wedged to 6 feet for another birdie at 13. When he made his lone blunder, pull-hooking a 4-iron into the water due to mud on his ball at the par-5 15th, he took a penalty drop and carved a beautiful shot to 11 feet. Darkness had fallen and he could’ve wait until Monday to strike the par putt but he opted to play on and sank it for good measure. While that snapped a streak of 53 consecutive holes without recording a score of more than a four on his card, dating to the 15th hole in his first round, he pumped his fist with glee for keeping a clean card (to that point).

“I felt like I was due for one to drop,” said Scheffler, whose closing bogey gave him a winning total 19-under 265. “So I figured might as well hit it now.”

Clark mounted an early charge, making an eagle and six birdies in his first 11 holes to inch within a stroke of the lead. But his effort to run down Scheffler was spoiled at the 12th hole when Clark tried to punch between trees. His ball struck one of them squarely and ricocheted out of bounds. He made double bogey.

“It was kind of fun for a little bit,” said Clark, who improved to a career-best ranking of No. 3 in the world. “Seemed like maybe we had a chance to do something crazy.”

Only Mother Nature could prolong Scheffler’s victory another day. Play was suspended due to inclement weather at 4:28 p.m. ET, for two hours and 32 minutes. The delay meant they ran out of daylight.

But on Monday, Scheffler capped off winning for the fourth time this year, all of them Signature events. He finished tied for second in the only tournament he did not win during his scorching run. For the week, he topped the field of 69 in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, SG: Tee to Green, SG: Approach the Green and scrambling.

“We’re watching greatness right now,” CBS’s Jim Nantz said. “It doesn’t happen all the time, but it sure is fun when you find yourself witnessing something like this.

Nantz’s NFL broadcast partner, former Dallas Cowboys QB Tony Romo, who played in the Invited Celebrity Classic on PGA Tour Champions last week, estimated he’s played around 500 rounds with Scheffler and said he’s never failed to break 70.

“Which is insane,” said Romo who played with him the week before the Masters at Brook Hollow, a Dallas club. “I have not seen a guy hit a golf ball like this since Tiger back in the 2000s when I played with him, the way he was striking the ball, the compression, the trajectory, the spin rate. It was impressive, and I was like, ‘He ain’t losing that tournament.’ ”

No one stopped him at the RBC Heritage either. Could Scheffler be on his way to a season for the record books? That may depend whether history repeats itself — all 10 of his wins have come in the months of February, March and April. So, time will tell if Scheffler can continue to dominate when the calendar flips to May – just don’t bet against the floodgates closing any time soon.

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