What at first looked like a walkaway turned into a dogfight, but with a back nine surge, Scottie Scheffler held off a charge by Spain’s Jon Rahm and won his first PGA Championship and his third major golf championship overall. Scheffler, who had lost a five-shot lead in a span of four holes early, played a textbook back nine, birdieing both par-5s and the reachable par-4 14th and finished at 11-under par, five shots clear of a trio of fellow Americans Bryson DeChambeau, Davis Riley, and Harris English. Rahm, who powered into a tie for the lead after birdies at 8, 10, and 11, played the Green Mile in five strokes over par to fade late and finish in a tie for eighth at 4-under.
Rory McIlroy made pre-tournament jests that Quail Hollow, site of the 2025 PGA Championship was Rory McIlroy Country Club, but the week looked to be the Scottie Scheffler Invitational. Scheffler, who had never played a stroke play tournament at Quail Hollow before, took command of the tournament on Saturday with a blistering 65 that included a five under stretch to close out the final five holes: eagle, birdie, par, birdie, birdie. In the span of an hour, he turned a one shot deficit into a four shot lead going into Sunday.
Scheffler built that lead with near flawless golf tee to green. He was first in the field on Moving Day in both Strokes Gained off the Tee and Strokes Gained Into the Green. And that was on a blustery day that featured a long weather delay and pairings of twosomes changed to threesomes going off both tees.
Scottie was so dialed in practicing he didn’t even know he had a third playing partner (Si Woo Kim, for those of you scoring at home).
That 65 gave him a three shot lead over Sweden’s Alex Noran, but even more importantly five shots over Rahm and six over LIV Golf’s DeChambeau. And 37 of the last 40 winners of the PGA were no less than four shots back before they started.
Tiger Woods said at Torrey that he always looked for that stretch of about nine holes where he would catch fire at a major and run away from everyone. He did that on Saturday in 2008 to surge into contention after spending the first two and a half rounds in the nether reaches of the leader board. But two 60-foot putts and a pitch in that found the hole by accident led to a 5-under back nine 30 and the lead. He eventually won in an epic 19-hole playoff against Rocco Mediate.
Scottie built up enough of a lead over his most serious contenders that he was able to survive the early hiccups in his round.
“I’m just really proud of the way I fought this week. I was battling my swing the first couple days. I didn’t have as good a prep week as I wanted to. It was a battle out there,” he admitted candidly. “Teddy [his caddie] did a good job of keeping me in it, and Randy [Smith, his coach] helped me figure out things on my swing…It was a real team effort this week. I’m proud of the whole squad. Looking forward to celebrating this one.”
Scheffler opened the day with a sloppy bogey at the first, but in what was a theme throughout the week, he immediately bounced back with a birdie at two. In fact, that may be the most interesting and telling stat of the week. The field average this week for making a birdie following a bogey was 17%. Scheffler’s bounce-back-birdie percentage was 62%. He did it again on 10, birdieing the par-5 after a bogey at nine.
Holes 14 and 15 proved the difference in the end. Rahm was still trailing by only one shot entering the easy stretch of the back nine, yet he failed to cash in. At 14 he couldn’t get up-and-down after driving into the greenside bunker. Then at 15 he was unable get up and down from just over the green.
A few short minutes later Scheffler made birdie from the same spot. That came after another birdie at 14 after missing the green by a few yards off the tee.
“It’s a couple of things. If there’s ever somebody that’s sitting right here that tells you nerves weren’t a part of it, they’re clearly lying. It’s the main thing we do as a professional sport; it’s controlling what goes through your mind,” Rahm explained earnestly, pointing out that although nerves are always part of the game, he actually enjoyed the chase and most of his round. “I think it’s linked to some of the things I’ve been working on in the swing. It was the trend today, right. The tee shot on 3, 5, 7 and then 16. They are not bad swings. It’s just a ball that starts left, and it’s not quite cutting,” he finished.
Meanwhile, Scheffler was able to survive a wild front nine where he hit just two out of seven fairways. He turned it around on the inward nine splitting the fairway at 10 and 11, calming the nerves and settling the swing for the remainder of the round.
Scheffler’s win brought a sense of normality to an otherwise strange week. Thursday was marred by mud balls as torrential rain-soaked Quail Hollow for weeks before the tournament. Then a number of players had drivers deemed non-conforming due to the faces being worn down. A fistful of players will see their checks lightened for swearing in front of live microphones, and some of the epithets snarled were downright X-rated. I thought Tiger ushered in a 13 second delay for just such circumstances…
Then Brooks Koepka decided to turn the PGA into the UFC. A fan seated in the stands heckled the 5-time major winner with a dig about how LIV golfers’ guaranteed money and limited schedule may have them less prepared come major championship week, so Brooks threatened him with a thug-like “Come down here and say that.”
But the question still stands, and actually asked by many in journalism as well as rank and file fans. Brooks Koepka’s last eight major starts are as follows: T-17, T-64, T-45, T-26, T-26, T-43, Missed Cut, Missed Cut. So despite Koepka’s musclehead beachboy attitude, the question still stands, Brooks. Have you lost a step since you joined LIV? And why the short fuse all the time?
Here’s everything you need to know about Brooks Koepka: million-dollar talent and a ten-cent head. And as for LIV’s other “superstars” Duston Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Cam Smith and Patrick Reed – all Masters or Open Championship winners poached by LIV for hundreds of millions of dollars – they all missed the cut too. Where Koepka and LIV are the lightning bug, Scottie and Rory are the lightning.
So what a difference a year makes! From jail to Quail for Scottie, the back of a squad car to the winner’s circle and the gigantic Wanamaker Trophy. Scheffler is now halfway towards the career Grand Slam and the two missing legs are next on the calendar. Hpw historic was this week over all? We’ll have to wait and see whether this was a stepping stone to further immortality for Scheffler, but after running away with Player of the Year last year and a game rounding into shape for the meat of the golf season, Scheffler may be rewriting the history books before our eyes, and doing it with a grace and class that makes all golf look good too. And that makes all the difference on the long run.
