AUGUSTA – In professional golf, there’s Scottie Scheffler, and then there’s everybody else.
The No. 1 player in the world won his second Masters in three years on Sunday in Augusta, Ga., by firing a final-round 68 to finish the week at 11-under 271.
Six of Scheffler’s seven birdies came over his final 11 holes at Augusta National as he pulled away for a four-stroke win over Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, who posted a 69. Collin Morikawa struggled to a 74, tying Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (69) and Max Homa (73) for third at 4 under.
It marks Scheffler’s second major victory and his 10th win on the PGA Tour in the past 26 months. He has won three tournaments in his last four starts
After a short birdie putt at No. 3, Scheffler suffered bogeys at Nos. 4 and 7 to drop to 6 under with Morikawa, whom he led by one after 54 holes. Aberg and Homa soon joined them for a four-way share of the lead, but Scheffler and Morikawa each birdied the par-5 eighth to sneak ahead to 7 under.
But after Scheffler’s approach at No. 9 spun back and narrowly missed the cup, setting up a birdie, each of his three competitors carded a double bogey to drop down the board. First was Morikawa, who failed to get out of a greenside bunker on his third shot at No. 9 before two-putting.
Aberg’s misstep came at the par-4 11th, where his approach landed well short of the green and hit the water. And Homa went backwards at the par-3 12th after his tee shot over the green bounced into bushes and forced him to take an unplayable lie.
Scheffler made it three birdies in a row at No. 10, absorbed a missed par putt at No. 11 and rebounded with consecutive birdies at Nos. 13 and 14. The latter was the final nail in the coffin, as his approach shot landed on the green’s back ridge and slowly rolled to 2 feet of the cup.
–Field Level Media
