In the end, there was no stopping the world number one Scottie Scheffler confirming his dominance of world golf as he cruised to a three-stroke victory on Sunday in the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
He might have made a bizarre four-putt double bogey on the 18th, but he had already done more than enough to withstand the furious late charge by Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman signed for his best-ever round in the Masters, holing out from the bunker on the 18th for a final birdie on his way to a superlative eight-under 64.
“I think the only thing I imagined was probably that walk up 18,” said Scheffler of a win that perhaps was beyond even his own wildest dreams. “I’ve seen some guys do that. The first one that comes to mind is watching Jordan [Spieth] make that walk up 18 with a huge lead. And definitely throughout the round today when I built up a little bit of a lead, I didn’t want any stress towards the end of the day, and I didn’t break my concentration until we got on to the green on 18. Once we got on to the green, I was like, all right, I’m going to enjoy this, and had some fun with it.”
And while he ‘only’ had a one-under 71 to close, the fact that he was able to respond throughout the weekend to any pressure that was applied to him by other contenders with clutch shots like his extraordinary chip-in on the third was enough to show that his status as world number one and now a major champion is entirely justifiable.
“I would say what was most pivotal was getting that ball up-and-down,” he said. “To have it go in was obviously off the charts, but my main goal was just to get up-and-down, and see it go in was definitely special. Parring four and five was huge as well. After that I kind of just started cruising. I felt comfortable with pretty much most of the aspects of my game. My swing maybe felt a little bit off, but other than that, I feel like I wasn’t ever really going to make a bogey. That was my goal. I just tried to hit good shots, and that’s really all I was thinking about.”
Behind McIlroy, Shane Lowry and Cameron Smith shared third, with Collin Morikawa’s five-under 67 in McIlroy’s company giving him fifth.
South Africa’s 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel might have felt a little frustrated with his play over the weekend delivering scores of one-over and two-over, but the truth is he finished in a share of 10th, showing glimpses of the brilliance that won him that green jacket and of the grittiness needed to contend in majors again. His closing birdies on 17 and 18 certainly showed that.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout also had his battles over the weekend. His Saturday 77 was made in tough conditions, admittedly, but he will certainly feel he could have got more out of his Sunday game than the eventual 76 gave him. He finished in a share of 44th.
For those who think Scheffler is just riding an extraordinary wave of good form and good luck, perhaps they should hold off on judging. “You know, you don’t expect things to come to you in this life,” he said. “You just do the best that you can and with the hand you’re dealt and just go from there. I never really thought I was that good at golf, so I just kept practicing and kept working hard, and that’s just what I’m going to keep doing.”
That sounds awfully like a recipe for staying world number one for a long time.
