The PGA championship victory confirms Scottie Scheffler’s place on the sport

Charlotte, NC – Jon Rahm went with his head with the sloping 16th Fairway in the Quail Hollow Country Club. The strict facial expression, which he hid under his light pink hat, gave nothing away when the noises that came from the nearby 14th green across the water, in which Scottie Scheffler had just brought Birdie to go, almost spent his main fate of the championship.

“Even if you don’t want to look at components,” said Rahm, “the crowd lets her know.”

For a short moment, cream seemed to be able to do the unthinkable: No. 1 player in the world, who started the day five shots before Rahm, at a big championship on Sunday. After making the lead on the 11th hole thanks to Scheffler’s uncharacteristic 2-over-nine systems, it seemed as if cream had improved the swing and was ready to run downhill on the way to the Wanamaker trophy.

But beating Scheffler requires more than just a single route of good golf. The three -time trademark of the winner are not at lightning speed, but the durability and an uncanny ability to be steadfast in view of mistakes. The pressure he puts on his opponents happens organically; His game is so solid and bulletproof that those who try to beat him, know the efforts that are necessary to survive the best player in the world.

Scheffler’s inevitability was in the damp Charlotte Air all Sunday. When Rahm with a Bogey and Scheffler 14 and 15 in 2 under 2 under the 16th green of the 16th green, the Spaniard could no other than go bankrupt. His discount on the 17th Loch Par-3 found the water. Play over.

“This back will be one that I remember for a long time,” said Scheffler. “To get up, if I needed the most, I will remember it for a while.”

Nineteen years ago during the 2006 PGA championship, Luke Donald watched a similar type of film. Donald-Damals of the 10th player of the World Hatte after 36 holes a share of leadership and shot a 66 to reach 14 in the Medinah Country Club on Saturday. There was only one problem: Tiger Woods shot a course record 65 that day to go into a tie for the tour with Donald. At that time, Woods was 11-0 at Majors, where he had at least a share in the 54-hole lead.

“Tiger had this kind of Aura that they just feel like they have to do more than they really have to raise their game to beat him,” said Donald on Sunday, after completing his last round in Quail Hollow. “And I think he understood that.”

This Sunday Woods and Donald played together in the last pairing and Woods scored 68 on the way to secure his 12th big victory with five shots over second place. On Sunday in Charlotte, Scheffler, who is now 3-0 with a lead of 54 holes, finished with a major, with the same victory game: five strokes.

“He just played his game, didn’t make too many mistakes and didn’t put you down, and I definitely experienced it in 2006,” said Donald about Woods. “I think Scottie is a similar type of player when he gets the lead.”

Since Scheffler won the 2024 Masters and stood firmly on sport on sport, a lot happened. Xander Schauffele won two majors, Bryson Dechambeau reached two majors himself, and Rory McIlroy finally secured his green jacket and the Grand Slam.

Scheffler was far from forgotten at this time-he won six times on tour and had three more top 10 places in Majors, but a little story began to sprout: When will Scheffler win a major who is not the master?

That Rahm was Scheffler’s film on Sunday. They put green jackets on the other’s shoulders and entered the tournament with two majors per piece. Now Scheffler not only slips cream, but also Dechameau, Schauffele, Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas. He is the player of his generation, and everyone else just try to play catchy.

“There were times when I had the feeling that I pressed,” said Dechambeau, who took second place. “I have to be more precise and fix what I can fix to make myself more consistent and get up there how Scottie is doing.”

In the past 24 months, nobody has received more praise from his colleagues than Scheffler because they have tried to explain their size and be amazed at the same time.

“I played a lot of golf with him, and it seems as if every shot has a strength and just finds himself up there,” said Sam Burns.

With Scheffler, none of it feels ever from the rails. Even after he had made three bogeys on the front nine and fought with his swing for a distraction, he didn’t seem to be nervous. He had worked with his coach Randy Smith all week when he moved his hips more efficiently to the goal, and for a moment it seemed that the bad habits went back to the way. But then Scheffler stepped onto the 10th tee, was more aimed at the proposal of his Caddy Ted Scott, made sure that he made a full body turn and had stripped. Clicked something. After three other birdies through 15 holes, Scheffler’s victory again felt inevitable.

“I had the feeling that this was so difficult when I fought for a tournament in my career,” said Scheffler, whose driver was also classified as not conformed before the tournament, and forced him to play this week with a new one. “It is always difficult to end a big championship. I didn’t have my best things, but I kept myself in it. I fought my swing in the first few days.”

Scheffler has already attracted many comparisons with Woods in his last two seasons due to his elite ballstrike. But that he can win without his best and then win a lot if he uses it is also what Woods did in his heyday.

“He just doesn’t get too high or low, but his game speaks for himself,” said Donald. “And he hates to lose.”

When Scheffler won more and has become an integral part of sport in the spotlight of sport, he allowed himself to show exactly how much he wants. In the 2024 Masters, he announced how nervous he was and that he wished he didn’t want to win as badly as he was. On Sunday, Scheffler wiped tears on the 18th Fairway from Quail Hollow before he threw his hat on the green in ecstasy and screamed moments after the last putt dropped. He is no longer just a two-time master winner, but now a three-time major champion at the age of 27, halfway to the Grand Slam.

“Sometimes I wish it is not as important to me – or like me,” said Scheffler again after his last round. “It would be much easier if I appear and how, how to win or lose, I will still go home and do everything. Sometimes I feel like this. But at the end of the day it means a lot for me.”

“He wants to win every time he goes here, regardless of whether it is golf, pickleball, whatever it is, he wants to win,” said Smith. “I continue with other sports. You have the basketball type, you always know who it is in a team who wants the ball with a second on the left, and so it is.”

When Mcilroy’s emotional victory at the Masters was the end of a story this year, Scheffler’s victory at Quail Hollow was a timely memory of the one that is only stronger. McIlroy may have the best year in sports, but the title of the best player in the world is still part of Scheffler.