Scottie Scheffler won the 107th PGA Championship by a whopping five shots on Sunday at Quail Hollow Club.
The final score didn’t come close to telling the whole story.
“I felt like this was as hard as I battled for a tournament in my career,” Scheffler said.
By many accounts, this PGA was over on Saturday night. Scottie Scheffler had grabbed its reins and taken off, poised to win his third major title – and first non-Masters – by a mile after a near-perfect Green Mile at Quail Hollow Club. Thanks to a 5-under finish over his final five holes, Scheffler had a three-stroke lead entering the final round and arguably all the momentum.
Yet, major championships usually don’t end a day early, even for the world No. 1. And by the time he turned on Sunday afternoon, Scheffler had company. Jon Rahm, playing two groups ahead, turned in a birdie barrage, gaining shots on Nos. 8, 11 and 12 to climb to 9 under. Scheffler, meanwhile, hit just two fairways and four greens in his front nine, turning with three bogeys and one birdie to find himself tied with Rahm for the lead.
Scheffler had been fighting his swing for much of the championship, struggling to make full turns. It got so bad that Scheffler’s coach, Randy Smith, was physically turning Scheffler’s hips through impact Friday evening on the range. While Scheffler solved the issue on the back nine Saturday, he began Sunday’s round with a notable case of the lefts.
“I told Teddy walking up, 9 tee, I was like, ‘That one felt pretty good. I don’t know why that was left again,’” Scheffler recalled. “He was like, ‘Well, maybe you’re aimed over there. Just try and hit a little farther right.’”
Scheffler immediately squared up his drive at the par-5 10th hole, which led to a birdie and Scheffler retaking his solo lead. As Scheffler’s 9-foot putt dropped, the applause could be heard ahead on the 12th green, where Rahm was preparing to strike his 14-footer for birdie. Rahm missed, and he missed several more birdie attempts coming in – 20 feet at No. 13, 7 feet at No. 14 and 13 feet at No. 15 – while Scheffler pulled away for good with birdies at Nos. 14 and 15, plus equally impressive up-and-downs on Nos. 16 and 17.
“There’s too much talent in the game of golf for me to slap the ball around today with a three-shot lead,” Scheffler said. “… I was proud of how I stepped up on the back nine and hit the shots I needed to.”
Especially considering he couldn’t rely on the leaderboards down the stretch.
“The leaderboards from 10 basically through 14, didn’t really show me what I was hoping they would show me,” Scheffler explained. “… I’m looking at the leaderboard, like, come on, guys, show me what’s going on at the top. If people want to know who’s in 30th, look at your phone. I need to know what’s going on at the top of the leaderboard. So I didn’t really see much on those holes. I just prepared for Jon to go out and have a back nine.”
Rahm then completely ejected with a bogey-double-double performance on the Green Mile, Nos. 16-18, to finish 4 under.
“Am I embarrassed a little bit about how I finished today? Yeah,” Rahm said. “But I just need to get over it, get over myself. It’s not the end of the world. It’s not like I’m a doctor or a first responder, where somebody if they have a bad day, truly bad things happen. I’ll get over it. I’ll move on. Again, there’s a lot more positive than negative to think about this week. I’m really happy I put myself in position and hopefully learn from this and give it another go in the U.S. Open.”
Alex Noren, paired with Scheffler on Sunday, shot 5-over 76 to end up 3 under. Harris English’s closing 65 was the only score better than 68 among those T-17 or better on the final leaderboard. English tied for second with Bryson DeChambeau and Davis Riley.
Scheffler bogeyed the par-4 18th to polish off a level 71, then celebrated with a few hard high-fives and chest bumps with his caddie, Ted Scott. Later in his winner’s presser, Scheffler was asked about last year’s PGA at Valhalla, a week where Scheffler both tied for eighth and spent that Friday morning before his second round in a jail cell after having been arrested.
“I definitely have a few jokes that I want to say that I’m probably going to keep to myself,” said Scheffler, whose charges were dropped less than two weeks later.
He was then pressed to tell one.
“That’s not a good idea,” Scheffler responded with a big laugh. “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.”
The PGA was now officially over, and Scheffler was the champ – it just wasn’t as easy as many expected.
