Standings: Scotty Scheffler (-10), Rory McIlroy (-7), Shane Lowry (-5), Cameron Smith (-5), Colin Morricau (-4), Will Zalatoris (-3), Corey Conners (-3) )
What it means: Scheffler has done what he can in the last two months. Win your first PGA Tour event, check it out. Back up with a second (and a third) win, check. Become No. 1 in the world, check it out. Become a great champion, control. Scheffler from a remarkable player became the player of the game. The most impressive thing is that he won this week with a goal on his back to start the tournament and from the lead from Friday afternoon.
What this victory means is that no one can dispute who is the best player in the world. And Scottie Scheffler will always have dinner plans on Tuesday of Masters Week.
Chamblee: Scheffler’s Masters victory marks new era
Full field score from the 86th Masters tournament
How it was done: Quickly. So it was on Sunday at Augusta National. Smith scored the first and reduced Scheffler’s lead to two. Smith scored the second and reduced his deficit to one. Then Smith seemed ready to equalize – or even take – the lead in the third, but Scheffler chipped for a birdie and Smith made a splash (more on that below). And somehow, Scheffler had extended his lead to four shots.
This separation above Smith remained for six holes as they matched the pars, birdies and bogeys at No. 5-10. Then, at par-4 11th, the hardest hole on the track, Smith made a bird. The momentum was his… for a few minutes.
Smith threw a weak 9-iron at Rae’s Creek in par-3 12th on his way to a triple-bogey 6. Scheffler made a great up-and-down in the same hole. The lead was again four, but this time over McIlroy, as Smith dropped six back to 4 under.
After McIlroy closed an 8-under 64 and posted a 7-under, Scheffler just had to play his last six holes in the 2 over par. He played them equal (after a nervous double boom at 18) to complete a dominant, three-year triumph.
Round of the day: McIlroy’s 64. Entering the final round, no one had shot better than 67 this week, and only three players had. But with calmer, warmer conditions on Sunday, McIlroy made six birds and an eagle to equal the lowest score ever in the final round of the Masters. He was last pointed out by a bird storage depot, after which McIlroy said he was “as happy as I was ever on a golf course.”
The biggest disappointment: Given the difference between the last group and everyone else, no one was really disappointed in the final round. So instead, this is the perfect place to pay tribute to Tiger Woods. After 508 days, Woods played an official event. After almost losing his right leg, Woods played over 72 holes in the Augusta National. There was enough sweet emotion written and said this week about Woods to sweeten all the tea in the South. But it was not without value.
The Tiger will never go deep into his detoxification process. He will never mention what it took to play four rounds – plus training – this week. We have a substance, and that is enough to impress us with the finish in 47th place.
Screenshot of the day: It’s rare for the most memorable shot in a big league win to happen in the first few holes of the final round, but it happened this Sunday. As mentioned above, Smith put the press in Scheffler with some early birds. With both at a similar point in the par-4 third, Scheffler fell first and came in.
This shot turned the tide in Scheffler’s favor and never stopped.
