Behind 9 birdies, 0 bogeys and a brand new placing grip, Scottie Scheffler wins Hero

Scottie Scheffler wins. Copy and paste. Rinse and repeat. Ought to you will have been in a vacation rush, missed the printed and have been questioning what went down, know that it was a little bit of a repeat. This yr’s winner of the Arnold Palmer Championship, the Gamers Championship, the Masters, the RBC Heritage, the Memorial, the Vacationers, the Olympics and the Tour Championship — exhales — is the winner of the Hero World Championship. 

It was a present, too, throughout Sunday’s last spherical at Albany Golf Course. There was somewhat of every little thing. You want precision? Scheffler was exact. He hit 17 of 18 greens. You want creativity? Scheffler was inventive. A low-flighted stinger on the par-5 ninth dodged hassle, resulting in birdie. You want inventiveness? Scheffler was creative. His newly employed claw placing grip will probably stick round. 

There was a rally, too. Scheffler began the ultimate spherical a shot again of chief Justin Thomas, however three holes and two birdies later, he was the chief for good. From there, he tacked on birdies at 4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16 and 18 — that’s 9 birdies in all, with zero bogeys — shot a 63 and completed at 25-under total, six pictures forward of runner-up Tom Kim. 

However right here’s the factor: Return to that first paragraph. You kinda anticipated Scheffler to win, proper? Take a look at that 2024 CV. It was additionally a lot of the identical in 2022 and 2023. 

And that, Thomas mentioned earlier within the week, is what makes him undeniably nice, perhaps extra so than some other attribute. In April, on the RBC Heritage, he provided an analogous opinion. Eight months later, nothing has modified. 

“I feel it’s very underneath — simply underrated how nicely he’s taking part in for anticipating to play that nicely,” Thomas mentioned. “I don’t suppose individuals perceive how tough it’s to win while you’re anticipated to win or when each single person who’s there expects you to play nicely and also you anticipate you to play nicely after which to nonetheless play nicely. I feel expectations are one thing — it’s very, very onerous to handle. It really is simply as a lot of a expertise as with the ability to, , management your distance along with your wedges or flight a driver or hit it far, no matter it’s, is with the ability to keep current, keep within the second. 

“I feel — once I consider the blokes which are the most effective at that, I consider Scottie and Xander [Schauffele], they’re two of the most effective while you play with them, they keep current and keep within the second irrespective of how the day goes. I feel that’s — it’s very onerous to clarify, nevertheless it’s so onerous to do typically. It’s typically even more durable while you’re taking part in that nicely as a result of it’s simple to suppose like, nicely, if I preserve taking part in like this, I’m going to win this event, I’m going to win the subsequent event and the subsequent one versus really — I imply, Tiger [Woods] all the time talked about it, each shot’s an important shot you’ve ever hit in your life, and after you hit that one, you go do it once more and subsequent factor , you’re like oh, I gained once more. That’s a tough factor to do. To me, that’s been essentially the most spectacular factor from Scottie.”

So yeah, one other win for Scheffler.

However extremely so. 

The takeaway 

Scheffler isn’t slowing down. Each event — each single event — is in play for him subsequent yr. 

The leaderboard breakdown 

— Justin Thomas begins the ultimate spherical with a one-shot lead. Thomas is at 17-under, Scottie Scheffler is at 16-under, Tom Kim is at 15-under, and Keegan Bradley is at 13-under. 

— Scheffler birdies the 439-yard, par-4 1st to maneuver right into a share of the lead, however Thomas rapidly solutions with a birdie of his personal. Thomas is at 18-under, Scheffler is at 17-under, and Kim is at 15-under. 

— Thomas bogeys the 177-yard, par-3 2nd after duffing a greenside chip shot, and Scheffler pars, and they’re tied for the lead. Thomas and Scheffler are at 17-under, Kim is at 15-under, and Bradley is at 13-under. 

— Scheffler birdies the 561-yard, par-5 third after getting house in two, and he now leads by one. Scheffler is at 18-under, Thomas is at 17-under, and Kim is at 16-under.

The ultimate phrase

“Yeah, very satisfying,” Scheffler mentioned on NBC after his victory. Not far more to say actually.