In a week unlike any other on the PGA Tour, Scottie Scheffler found the perfect stage to take his star turn.
Scheffler, 25, had already been anointed the next big Texas-born star on the PGA Tour. All he was missing was a victory.
He got that in a playoff at the WM Phoenix Open on Sunday, holing a 26-foot birdie putt to beat Patrick Cantlay on the third extra hole, capping another one-of-a kind event in the Arizona desert.
“Just a lot of hard work,” the 2020 PGA Tour rookie of the year said in describing his tearful reaction after winning. “Such a fun place. Such a great week.”
In a tournament that could have been won by a handful of players down the stretch, Scheffler (above) put a bearhug on it through the wild, noisy weekend. He rushed into the storyline by shooting 62 on Saturday then he birdied four of the last six holes in regulation to get into the playoff with Cantlay.
Scheffler had a 5-foot birdie putt to win on the final hole of regulation but his putt slid past on the right edge.
“I didn’t hit a bad putt,” Scheffler said. “It didn’t feel great coming off the face, but I think I just hit it through the break. I think there was a little bit of excitement, whatever it was.
“If you would have told me on 13 tee I was going to be in a playoff, I would have been pleased. I felt a little bit out of it at that point, so to finish with four birdies coming in to get in a playoff was pretty nice.”
After his 2-0-1 record in the Ryder Cup where he took down world No. 1 Jon Rahm in singles, it has seemed just a matter of time before Scheffler won.
“As bad as I've scored with how good I’ve been playing, I’ve been playing great and I was getting so frustrated because I was scoring so poorly,” he said. “To kind of put things together yesterday and get through all the mistakes I made today and still pull it out is pretty …
“It’s amazing.”
In his stoic manner, Cantlay has become a relentless force on the PGA Tour. He won the FedEx Cup last summer, winning the last two events of the season and after a long break. Cantlay rolled into Phoenix with three top-10 finishes in three starts this year.
One of the game’s best putters, Cantlay had chances on the last two holes in regulation to win the tournament but couldn’t do it. In the playoff, it was Scheffler who made the 26-footer to win.
Sahith Theegala – who tied for third with Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele one shot back – became a crowd favorite during the weekend in Phoenix with his aggressive, athletic swing and his personality. The massive galleries seemed to embrace the 24-year-old who was playing on a sponsor exemption while trying to earn full privileges on the PGA Tour.
“That’s awesome that they feel like I'm somebody they can root for,” Theegala said. “It means a lot to me, and hopefully I can keep being someone that they can root for.”
It was just two years ago that Theegala was the player of the year in college golf, leading Pepperdine’s emergence as a national power. He arrived in Phoenix ranked 318th in the world, having driven from his home in Chico, California, where he still lives with his parents.
With his family in attendance, Theegala let the tournament slip from his grasp at the drivable par-4 17th where his tee shot ran across the green and rolled into the water, leading to a costly bogey that dropped him from a share of the lead.
“I thought I hit a great shot on 17. It was cutting. As long as it’s another yard right, I think that's perfect. Kick straight and it’s good. Kicked left into the water there,” Theegala said.
“Then I was worried about the ball – it was such a steep slope, I was worried about the ball kind of rolling back, so I maybe rushed my process just a little bit there and hit a poor chip and hit a poor putt. I just didn't hit the shots at the right time when it counted.”
Ron Green Jr.