An inglorious end to a sublime Masters’ performance

By Golfer Pacific editor, Paul Gueorgieff

It's the last hole of the tournament.

The first putt goes five feet past the hole.

The second putt goes five feet past.

The third putt goes three feet past.

The fourth putt, thankfully, goes in. Or should that be distressingly?

This is one of the world's greatest tournaments, the Masters. And in this case this is what happened last month to tournament leader Scottie Scheffler.

Leaders of the Masters don't usually have much leeway and a four-putt at the last would often equate to one of golf's great meltdowns.

But because Scheffler had been so dominant he could afford an inglorious four-putt on the 72nd hole. He actually could have six-putted, a la Danny Lee, and still been victorious. (Danny Lee of New Zealand infamously six-putted the 18th hole at the 2020 United States Open). 

When Scheffler’s third putt slipped by, he put a hand over his face in embarrassment and giggled to himself.
 
Scheffler later admitted: “I’ll give myself a free pass for that one.” 

The 25-year-old American earned use of the free pass because he had played so well earlier. 

He went into the final round with a three-shot lead. The lead had dwindled to one after two holes with Australian playing partner Cameron Smith making an early charge.

But the hopes of Smith were sunk when his tee shot on No 12 went into the water.

“Just a really bad swing at the wrong time,” Smith would later say.

And as Smith's challenge subsided another emerged in the form of Rory McIlroy, who, a few holes ahead, was burning up the Augusta National course.

McIlroy ended with an eight-under par 64 which equalled the best final round in The Masters. It ended with McIlroy holing his bunker shot on the 18th for a birdie, which had the crowd roaring.

McIlory said the good weather helped his cause.

“I feel like we haven’t had a lot of days this year [weather-wise] where you actually can get after the golf course, and today we had a day when you could get after it, ”
McIlroy said.

But in the end it wasn't enough to reel in Scheffler and afterwards McIlroy summed up Scheffler's brilliant play. 

“Hats off to him,” McIlroy said. 

“He’s sort of been head and shoulders above everyone else this week.”

Scheffler finished with a score of 10 under par while three shots back on seven under was McIlroy. There was another two shots to Smith and Shane Lowry on five under par to be equal third. 

Scheffler's win added to an amazing eight weeks. It was his fourth win in six starts during which time his world ranking rose from No 15 to No 1.

The first win came in the $US8.2 million Phoenix Open in Arizona on February 13, which was Scheffler's first win on the PGA Tour. Scheffler won in a playoff with Patrick Cantlay.

Three weeks later he won the $US12 million Arnold Palmer Invitational in Florida
and another three weeks afterwards he won the $US12 million World Golf Championships Matchplay in Texas to attain his No 1 world ranking.

Scheffler admitted after The Masters that the mounting success was getting to him by the morning of the last round.
 
“You know, last night was pretty easy,” he said before quickly adding:  “This morning was a totally different story. 

``I cried like a baby this morning. I was so stressed out. I didn’t know what to do. 

``I was sitting there telling (my wife) Meredith I don’t think I’m ready for this. I’m not ready. I don’t feel like I’m ready for this kind of stuff. And I just felt overwhelmed. She told me, who are you to say that you are not ready?”

One of the defining moments of Scheffler's final round came on the third hole despite a wayward tee shot which saw his ball  land behind a scoreboard, in the straw and near the folding chair of a spectator. 

Scheffler whacked it out to where it clunked in front of the green, 30 metres from the cup. From there, he chipped on and watched it race, spin and then bang  into the flagstick and dunk into the hole for a birdie and retain his three-shot lead.
 
“I chipped it so good this week,”  Scheffler said.

At the champion's press conference Scheffler added: 

“I never expected to be sitting where I am now. 

``You don’t expect things to come to you in this life. You just do the best you can with the hand you’re dealt. 

``I never really thought I was that good at golf, so I just kept practicing and kept working hard, and that’s just what I’m going to keep doing.”