It has been said so many times it is a cliché—the Masters doesn’t get interesting until the back nine on Sunday. Except, apparently, when it comes to Scottie Scheffler, whose consistent level of exceptional play put pressure on those chasing him in the final round. Collin Morikawa, who was playing with Sheffler? Crumbled with two double bogeys in three holes and was never a factor. Max Homa? A double bogey on the par-3 12th hole finished his chances. Ludvig Aberg? The newcomer to Augusta had a shot until he found the water on the 11th hole and made a double bogey. In some ways it wasn’t as much a victory by Scheffler as a failure of those chasing him to put pressure on him.
All the while, Scheffler remained stoic, finding fairways with his driver, and making exacting iron shots. There were few missteps in the round. “I did my best to stay calm out there,” Scheffler said. “I tried to stay patient on the course and was able to make some key shots and key putts today to keep my round going.”
That’s not to suggest Scheffler, the top-ranked golfer in the world, wasn’t exceptional—he was. His 4-under in the final round, including birdies on 10, 13, 14, and 16 meant anyone chasing him was going to have to play exceptionally. He was the only one able to maintain that pace. Aberg, whose recent rise up the world rankings makes him a budding superstar, shot 3-under in the final round, four shots behind Scheffler. Tommy Fleetwood and Homa finished in a tie for third.
The win was Scheffler’s third in four starts, including the Players Championship. He’ll hurry back home where his wife, Meredith, is expecting the couple’s first child. “You’re about to make me cry here in Butler Cabin,” he said when asked about the baby during the Green Jacket ceremony in the Butler Cabin after the round. “It’s a very special time for both of us. I can’t put into words what it means to win this tournament again. I really can’t put into words what it’s going to be like to be a father for the first time. I’m looking forward to getting home and celebrating with Meredith. It’s been a long week here without her, but I’m just looking forward to getting home.”
What’s In The Bag
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10
3-Wood: TaylorMade Qi10
Irons: Srixon ZU85 (3, 4), TaylorMade P7TW (5-PW)
Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM8 (50-12F, 56-14F), Titleist Vokey Design WedgeWorks Proto (60-06K, 60.5-T)
TaylorMade Spider Tour X
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Tiger’s Tale
Tiger Woods showed signs of his former greatness, but it is clear he struggles over four rounds. Woods set the record for most consecutive cuts made with 24, but he also shot 82 in the third round, and finished at 16-over, his highest score in a four-round tournament in his career. Still, Woods said it was a good week: “I think that coming in here, not having played a full tournament in a very long time, it was a good fight on Thursday and Friday,” he said. “Unfortunately, yesterday it didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it to.”
The Strength Of LIV
There were no golfers from the breakaway LIV Golf in the Top 5, but three—Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau, and Tyrrell Hatton—managed to finish in the Top 10. Hatton said he hopes the two rival golf tours—the PGA Tour and LIV—can find some common ground. “How it obviously works out is almost anyone’s guess and for other people to worry about,” he said. “For me, I’ve made a decision to play LIV Golf, and I’m still looking at trying to play events on the DP World Tour, which guys have been able to do over the last couple of years, and the guys know which events I’m trying to play. We’ll see how it all pans out.”
Canadians Stumble
Four Canadians entered the week at the Masters, but only Adam Hadwin and Cory Conners made it to the weekend. Conners, who has played exceptionally well at Augusta in recent years, started strongly with a 2-under 70 opening round that put him near the top of the leaderboard, but he was never a factor afterwards, fading to a tie for 38th.
“Obviously the result on the rebound is disappointing, not what I had in mind. It was a fun week. It was a grind, Conners said. “But yes, felt like there was lots of positives and things that I liked, just the mistakes were costly. I wasn’t able to score the best.”
Hadwin finished with a 2-under Sunday to finish at 12-over in 53rd position.
Hadwin said the Presidents Cup, which is being held in Montreal in September, and making the Canadian Olympic team, are very much on his mind: “There’s still another three months to go really until the Olympics and another four and a half months or so for Presidents Cup,” he said. “There’s a lot of big events. I think my focus now should be accumulating enough FedEx Cup points to get myself back into TOUR Championship. That’s probably where my focus should lie.”