CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA | By the time Scottie Scheffler stepped onto the 10th tee in the final round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club Sunday afternoon, a sense of urgency had blown in with the warm, gusty afternoon wind.
A five-stroke lead had evaporated, Jon Rahm had rampaged his way into a share of the lead and Scheffler’s inevitability – perhaps his defining characteristic as the game’s top-ranked player – had been replaced by uncertainty.
It wasn’t evident looking at Scheffler, who has a stoic Texas ranger quality about him, but a nervous vibe had settled over Quail Hollow.
Scheffler, who started Sunday with a three-stroke lead and had nearly doubled that after the fifth hole, was chasing the swing and the feelings that make him who he is.
He needed a good swing as badly as he needed a birdie so he asked his caddie, Ted Scott, a question.
“He was hitting everything left and he said, ‘Do you see anything?’ I said the swings look good but everything’s going left so maybe aim right,” Scott said.
Scheffler made sure to square his shoulders more then ripped a 312-yard drive through a crosswind into the middle of the fairway, setting up a birdie that rang like an alarm clock, seemingly shaking him out of his slumber.
“That’s back to Scottie Scheffler golf. Here we go baby,” Scott said to himself walking down the 10th fairway.
Two hours later, Scheffler slammed his cap to the ground on the 18th green, putting his personal exclamation point on a five-stroke victory in the PGA Championship.
With a third major championship on his résumé, Scheffler didn’t redefine his place as much as he reinforced it. Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau have won two majors in recent years but Scheffler stands apart from them.
While Rory McIlroy dominated the first four months of the season and won hearts with his green jacket victory, Scheffler never lost his true north even when some doubters began to question if he had lost his edge because he didn’t win this year until he blew the field away in his previous start at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Recency bias can be a dangerous thing, though it has become increasingly difficult not to invoke the names of Nicklaus and Woods when searching for perspective on Scheffler’s achievements.
In the space of three years and three months, Scheffler has won 15 PGA Tour events including those three majors. Only guys named Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus have stacked up so many trophies in such a short time and it feels as if he’s just getting started.
Scheffler’s greatest asset isn’t the consistency of his golf swing. It’s the consistency of who he is.
He’s 28 years old and getting better. The back nine on Sunday was a virtuoso demonstration of that.
“He just looked down and said it’s time to man up and make a play,” explained Randy Smith, Scheffler’s coach since he was 7 years old.
The great ones can fix themselves and Scheffler did that.
Scheffler is long, lean and resolute, built from the strongest materials and grounded by principles that have stood the test of time.
He isn’t blown by winds of change. He walks through them, seemingly as sure about what he’s doing as the sun coming up tomorrow. Scheffler’s greatest asset isn’t the consistency of his golf swing. It’s the consistency of who he is.
“If you just watch him from a distance and how he handles himself and how he works, he works very diligently. He kind of separates himself. The way he plays is a byproduct of a lot of other things we don’t see,” said Sam Burns, one of Scheffler’s closest friends.
They were staying together with their families just off the 15th green at Quail Hollow last week, close enough to walk to the course, provoking some laughs considering Scheffler’s still-ridiculous traffic arrest at the PGA Championship a year ago.
On Saturday evening, when Scheffler walked in after playing the last five holes in 5-under par to build a three-stroke lead, Burns said everything he needed to with a fist bump to his buddy.
The conversation will come later.
“He’s not afraid to trash talk,” Burns said.
In a hot-take world, Scheffler is a cool character who does more showing than telling. Scheffler rarely gets caught in the moment; he becomes the moment.
When his lead was gone and Scheffler found himself in a dead heat with Rahm, his pace didn’t change. His expression didn’t change. But his game did. Three birdies in a six-hole stretch and the Wanamaker Trophy was coming his way.
For all the talk about the Green Mile, Quail Hollow’s double bogey-inducing three-hole finish, Scheffler was largely unfazed by it because he was so good on the two holes leading into the dangerous finish.
He played the drivable par-4 14th and the reachable par-5 15th in 9-under par for the week and, for a player who shies away from theatrics, Scheffler earned a curtain call for his timing on the weekend.
When Bryson DeChambeau was making a run Saturday, he literally backed off a putt when thunder rolled across the big lake after Scheffler eagled the tantalizing 14th hole. It was Rahm’s turn on Sunday to spit the bit near the end, working his way through a bogey at the 16th when Scheffler was building his lead with a birdie across the water at the 14th.
Timing, it’s been said, is everything.
Prior to this PGA Championship, Scheffler was asked if he sets specific goals. That’s not his way.
“I have some dreams and aspirations that I think about, but I've always been at my best when I stay in the present,” he said, opening a window into his success.
It was a year ago in Louisville that Scheffler was arrested in the rainy dawn outside Valhalla Golf Club, setting off an extraordinary series of events that will always be a part of his story. To come back a year later and win the Wanamaker Trophy, the circle of life wasn’t lost on Scheffler.
“I definitely have a few jokes that I want to say that I’m probably going to keep to myself,” Scheffler said.
“Last year sometimes, it still doesn’t almost feel real. It really doesn’t. It’s just one of those deals that I really don’t know how to describe it. But I can tell you it’s very sweet sitting here with the trophy this year.”
As Scheffler walked toward the scoring room to sign his card early Sunday evening, Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley and DeChambeau waited to congratulate him. Before Scheffler got to them, he got to his wife, Meredith, and their 1-year old son, Bennett.
Scheffler scooped his son into his arms and carried him in to sign his card. When his victory was official, Scheffler walked back out to be escorted with his family and team to the trophy ceremony on the 18th green.
When he handed Bennett to Meredith, Scheffler’s son started crying and reaching for his father. The one guy Scheffler couldn’t shake on Sunday was the one who mattered the most.
Together, they walked off together with smiles on their faces.
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