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.
[fanpower_carousel id=”179″]
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1375]
