One year after wearing prison scrubs and five months on from his gory misadventure with a wine glass, Scottie Scheffler returned to more familiar behaviours on Sunday evening. For the third time in his short career, he is a major champion.
But do not mistake familiar for boring. Do not confuse a five-stroke victory for an outright procession.
And do not assume the 107th PGA Championship meandered though the motions to the kind of outcome that seemed so predictable once Scheffler concluded his third round with a three-shot lead.
No. This was not that kind of run for home. This was the day when his frailties went for a prolonged outing and Jon Rahm, that fading rebel of LIV, came dancing through an open door to briefly tease the possibility of a comeback for the ages.
Some details at this juncture. Starting the final round, Rahm was five behind Scheffler, with Alex Noren between them. By the turn, Rahm and Scheffler were out alone, dead level, and travelling fast in opposite directions. It was magnificent theatre.
And it was also a delightful way for Rahm to challenge the perception of being blunted by all that loot from LIV. But all that flies risks a fall, and all who enter the Green Mile of the 16th, 17th and 18th holes risk a zapping. That stretch fried the life out of him – he twice found water and dumped five shots, plummeting all the way to four under. Brutal.
Scottie Scheffler eased to a five-shot win at the PGA Championship on Sunday
He now has three major titles to his name, despite still being in the early stages of his career
Jon Rahm drew level with Scheffler, but then fell away badly over the final holes
It was a soggy end to a great effort and so Scheffler, as relentlessly steady on the back nine as he was wobbly on the front, slammed the door. Signing for a 71, 11 under par for the week, he ambled off to add the Wanamaker Trophy to his two green jackets. Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English and Davis Riley never contended but shared second on six under, two ahead of Yorkshireman Matt Fitzpatrick.
Where last month we spoke about Rory McIlroy’s career slam and reawakening, we can now accelerate the conversation around Scheffler, a 28-year-old who has already acquired two of the four pieces.
Like McIlroy, who left without talking to the media after finishing 47th on three over, it emerged Scheffler too had been forced to replace a non-compliant driver at the start of the week. Unlike McIlroy, he stifled his irritation, rode out some uncharacteristic misses, and, as ever, responded to each slip with a sprint on a major Sunday.
A year and a day after the arrest debacle at this tournament, this was far more typical of him. It also completed his comeback from the severe hand injury he sustained cutting ravioli with a wine glass at Christmas, reasserting his status as the best in the world.
With any luck, the US Open next month will finally offer a proper duel with McIlroy, because the sporting world deserves to see them face off when both are at their best. That’s a thought for another day; this one was all about a peculiar type of drama.
If there was any hope for the field at the outset, it was that there was recent precedent for slips at this tournament. Like Scheffler, Mito Pereira led by three going into the fourth round in 2022 and finished third. But Scheffler isn’t Pereira, even in weeks where his swing is loose.
That was the theme of his front nine – he would hit only four greens in regulation, with countless drives and approaches yanked to the left. That was part of the pattern when he bogeyed the first, sixth and ninth holes.
For the initial stages of that run, external pressure was desperately absent.
A year ago, Scheffler was arrested before the PGA Championship and was unable to add to his two Masters triumphs
Twelve months on, Scheffler held his nerve brilliantly on the back nine after being reeled in at one stage
What the tournament needed was a bolter to capitalise on any blips. And there was. And there were. The bolter was Rahm and the blips came from Scheffler shaping all of those shots from draws to hooks. Those were one half of his problem as he hit the turn at nine under.
Rahm was the other.
After opening with seven pars, the Spaniard had birdied the driveable eighth hole for seven under, and then got two more immediately on the back nine. The second of those was majestic – taking aim at the green from a fairway bunker, 170 yards from the flag, he muscled his way to 20 feet and made the putt. He was fist-pumping and the crowd went into frenzy – he was at nine under par and level with Scheffler.
Out of nowhere, we had a clash of titans. Brilliant. At seven under, carried by birdies on 14 and 15, even DeChambeau had turned up and was third.
But Scheffler’s greatest trait is his ability to respond to pressure. That meant getting up and down from a greenside bunker for birdie at the 10th to go back in front, before Rahm was robbed of a bankable chance at the short par four on 14. His drawing drive was perfect but took a nasty bounce off a mound and kicked right to sand. He could only par and that was a savage turning point.
Bryson DeChambeau finished tied for second, but never seriously challenged Scheffler
Yorkshire’s Matt Fitzpatrick was two shots behind DeChambeau as he returned to form, but this was Scheffler’s tournament, and by some distance
It also shunted Scheffler into gear. Where so many greens were missed on the way out, coming in he was flawless – every fairways and green was found between the 10th and 14th, where his drive trickled into the bunker vacated by Rahm. Alas, he blasted to seven feet and a birdie. Back on 11 under, he led by two.
When the ball dropped, Rahm was two holes away in sand on the 16th, the gateway to the Green Mile. His head was already ringing from a three-putt par on the 15th, a par five, and then a makeable par putt was missed once he escaped from the trap. A deficit of two was now three.
Firmly in chase mode, he then fired his tee shot at the 17th flag and bounced into water. A double had finished him, and he went into more water on 18, sending Rahm lower on the leaderboard than he deserved.
Scheffler? Well, he birdied 15 and bought himself enough breathing room to bogey the last. Even when he’s shaky, he can win by a green mile.
