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’ve gotten 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 remaining spherical at Albany Golf Course. There was somewhat of every 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 bother, resulting in birdie. You want inventiveness? Scheffler was creative. His newly employed claw placing grip will possible 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? Have 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, possibly extra so than another attribute. In April, on the RBC Heritage, he supplied an identical opinion. Eight months later, nothing has modified. 

“I feel it’s very beneath — simply underrated how properly he’s enjoying for anticipating to play that properly,” Thomas mentioned. “I don’t assume individuals perceive how troublesome it’s to win whenever you’re anticipated to win or when each single person who’s there expects you to play properly and also you anticipate you to play properly after which to nonetheless play properly. I feel expectations are one thing — it’s very, very arduous to handle. It really is simply as a lot of a expertise as having the ability to, you already know, management your distance along with your wedges or flight a driver or hit it far, no matter it’s, is having the ability to keep current, keep within the second. 

“I feel — after I consider the fellows which might be the very best at that, I consider Scottie and Xander [Schauffele], they’re two of the very best whenever 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 arduous to clarify, but it surely’s so arduous to do generally. It’s generally even more durable whenever you’re enjoying that properly as a result of it’s straightforward to assume like, properly, if I maintain enjoying 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] at all times talked about it, each shot’s a very powerful shot you’ve ever hit in your life, and after you hit that one, you go do it once more and subsequent factor you already know, you’re like oh, I received 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.