Masters: Scheffler gets green jacket to go with No. 1 ranking

AUGUSTA, Ga. –

Scottie Scheffler regarded like a Masters champion even earlier than he slipped into his inexperienced jacket, the mannequin of calm as he methodically labored his manner round probably the most irritating course in main championship golf.

Sunday morning was totally different. That turned out to be the hardest take a look at he had all day.

“I cried like a child this morning. I used to be so stressed. I did not know what to do,” Scheffler mentioned after successful his first main. “I used to be sitting there telling (spouse) Meredith, “I do not assume I am prepared for this … and I simply felt overwhelmed.”

After which he capped off his torrid two-month stretch together with his grandest feat of all, main the complete weekend and strolling to a 1-under 71 — with one lapse in focus on the finish when it did not matter — for a three-shot victory over Rory McIlroy.

For a man who had gained three of his earlier 5 tournaments, who reached No. 1 on the planet, why out of the blue be overcome with doubt?

“I believe as a result of it is the Masters. I dreamed of getting an opportunity to play on this golf match. I teared up the primary time I obtained my invitation within the mail,” Scheffler mentioned.

“If you are going to select a golf match to win, this is able to be the match,” he mentioned. “You do not know what number of possibilities you are going to get. And so having an opportunity — I had a five-shot lead on Friday after which a three-shot lead going into at the moment — I do not know for those who get higher alternatives than that. You do not need to waste them.”

He felt peace between the ropes and by no means allowed himself to benefit from the second till he took that well-known stroll up the 18th inexperienced, his ball 40 toes away and a five-shot lead.

“And also you noticed the outcomes of that,” he mentioned with fun at his four-putt double bogey that solely affected the margin of victory.

McIlroy holed out from the bunker on the ultimate gap for a record-tying remaining spherical of 64. That pulled him inside three photographs, and his solely hope for the ultimate piece of the profession Grand Slam was for the Sunday stress at Augusta Nationwide to get to Scheffler.

No likelihood.

Not on Sunday. Not the final 4 days. Not the final two months.

“You get on these sizzling streaks, and also you simply obtained to trip them out as a result of they, sadly, do not final without end,” Justin Thomas mentioned. “However he’s doing it within the largest tournaments. … It is actually, actually spectacular to see somebody that younger deal with a second this large so simply.”

And to assume that 56 days in the past, Scheffler was nonetheless attempting to win his first PGA Tour title. Now he is gained 4 of the final six he has performed, one of the best stretch since Jason Day in the summertime of 2015.

The Sunday theater, thrilling and tragic, belonged to everybody else.

Scheffler overcame a nervy second early within the spherical by chipping in for birdie. He delivered key putts to maintain Cameron Smith at bay and by no means regarded rattled, at the same time as he was swatting at brief putts on the finish.

McIlroy was the runner-up. It was Smith who felt as if he let one get away. The Aussie was nonetheless within the sport, three photographs out of the lead, when he dumped his 9-iron in Rae’s Creek on the par-3 twelfth gap for triple bogey and ended his hopes.

“Only a actually dangerous swing on the improper time,” Smith mentioned.

Smith closed with a 73 and tied for third with Shane Lowry, who birdied the 18th for a 69.

Tiger Woods was ending up concerning the time Scheffler was getting began, and anybody who left missed fairly a present. As for Woods, he discovered comfort in taking part in 4 rounds in his first match since a February 2021 automobile crash shattered his proper leg. He shot 78 and completed at 13-over 301, his highest 72-hole rating on the Masters and furthest (23 photographs) he ever completed behind the winner.

Scheffler joined Ian Woosnam in 1991 as the one gamers to win a significant — the Masters in each circumstances — of their debut at No. 1 on the planet.

Everybody ought to have seen this coming. He gained the Phoenix Open in a playoff on Tremendous Bowl Sunday. He adopted that with a comeback win at Bay Hill to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He rose to No. 1 on the planet by successful the Match Play two weeks in the past in Texas.

And now this.

“He is type of been head and shoulders above everybody else this week,” McIlroy mentioned.

Scheffler, who completed at 10-under 278, gained $2.7 million from the $15 million prize fund. That brings his whole to $8,872,200 over his final six begins.

Scheffler’s large second got here early within the spherical, and it was no much less vital.

Beginning the ultimate spherical with a three-shot lead, he watched Smith open with two straight birdies to the reduce the deficit to 1, after which Scheffler’s method from the pine needles left of the third fairway got here up brief and rolled again down the slope.

His pitch was racing towards the opening when it banged into the pin and dropped for an unlikely birdie, and a two-shot swing when Smith from the identical place made bogey.

Nobody obtained nearer than three the remainder of the way in which. Solely the contenders modified.

The twelfth gap stays probably the most riveting par 3 in golf, the scene of extra collapses than comebacks. Smith grew to become the newest sufferer.

Coming off birdie at No. 11, his shot was nonetheless within the air when he let his membership slip by his palms and he slowly closed his eyes twice because it splashed into Rae’s Creek. The subsequent shot wasn’t a lot better, however a minimum of dry, and Smith’s hopes ended there with a triple bogey.

He was three behind standing on the twelfth tee. Three holes later, he was eight again.

From there, any hope resided with McIlroy. All he wanted to finish the profession Grand Slam was to match one of the best remaining spherical in Masters historical past and get some assist from Scheffler. He solely obtained a type of and needed to accept his first silver medal from Augusta.

Not that he did not create some Sunday magic. McIlroy went bunker-to-bunker on the 18th gap, leaving himself proper of the inexperienced and aiming some 25 toes proper of the flag. It rode the slope all the way in which into the opening, setting off one of many loudest roars of the week.

Morikawa adopted him in from the identical bunker, totally different angle, and McIlroy may solely chortle.

“This match by no means ceases to amaze,” McIlroy mentioned. “That is as comfortable as I’ve ever been on a golf course proper there. Simply having an opportunity — after which with Collin, we each performed so effectively all day — and for each of us to complete like this, I used to be simply so comfortable for him, too.

“I’ve by no means heard roars like on the 18th inexperienced.”

The very best ones have been saved for Scheffler.

Scheffler nonetheless had 5 holes in entrance of him, with no proof he was going to be something however the clean, good operator who seized management on Friday within the hardest situations to construct a five-shot lead and by no means misplaced it.