Mr. Inevitable rises again
World No. 1 Scheffler holds off future world No. 1 Åberg; Tiger struggles to historic lows in 100th career round
Thus ends a long and satisfying debut major for the Daily Drive. You can read everything we’ve published from the last two weeks on the Substack website or app, and hopefully see something you’d like to follow as subscribers as we push forward to the season’s second major at the PGA Championship at Valhalla. Meanwhile, onto coverage of a scintillating Masters and golf’s reigning master Scottie Scheffler …
Scottie Scheffler stands alone at Augusta (Logan Whitton/Augusta National)
Scheffler leaves field in his wake
What seemed inevitable when a highly-anticipated Masters week began turned out to be just the way the prognosticators saw it: Scotty Scheffler, holding another Masters trophy, slipping into a green jacket, a slew of golfers marveling at his abilities.
As it turned out, Meredith Scheffler was the only one that could stop Scheffler on Sunday. The soon-to-be mom’s pregnancy was the only thing that could get in the No. 1-ranked golfer’s way Sunday, as he said he was headed home to Dallas if the call came that she was in labor.
His cell never rang.
Scheffler pulled away from a four-way tie at the eighth hole, stepping on the gas like a Formula 1 champion as his front-running mates devolved into a demolition derby. Scheffler ran off consecutive birdies on 8, 9 and 10 while his challengers each made crippling doubles on 9, 11 and 12 to give the 2022 Masters champion all the cushion he needed to secure a second green jacket. The roar from his near hole-out for eagle on 9 made his rivals flinch the way so many once did when peak Tiger stalked the majors.
Scheffler, 27, got to enjoy a ceremonial parade up the last leading by four shots — one fewer than his five-shot lead in 2022.
“I tried to soak in stuff around me today. I looked up at the trees at times. I looked up at the fans occasionally to try to soak in some of their energy,” Scheffler said. “But did not ever let myself get attached to the lead. I just tried to keep pushing. I mean, I think if I would have played a little bit defensively it would have been a significantly different finish.”
The way he is playing is scary at the moment, the proficiency with which he is getting the job on a level not seen since Tiger Woods dominated the game. It’s risky stuff comparing anyone to Tiger, but Scottie’s 2023 adjusted scoring average was in the Woods neighborhood of bygone years, underappreciated due to his relatively modest victory total for the year.
Now he’s won three times in four starts, has a second Masters in three years and nine PGA Tour victories in 26 months. Few can claim that kind of run. Oh, and he’s not shot over par all year.
Perhaps learning the intricacies of child rearing will distract Scheffler from his current perch. It’s doubtful.
“I’m definitely not going to intentionally take my eye off the ball,’’ he said. “I will go home, soak in this victory tonight. Will definitely enjoy the birth of my first child. But with that being said, I still love competing. My priorities will change here very soon. My son or daughter will now be the main priority, along with my wife, so golf will now be probably fourth in line.
“But I still love competing. I don't plan on taking my eye off the ball anytime soon, that’s for sure.’’
Scheffler shot a final-round 68 to defeat impressive Masters rookie Ludvig Åberg by four shots.
It is nothing short of remarkable to think that with 11 holes to play, Scheffler was tied with Åberg, Collin Morikawa and Max Homa at 6 under. He played the remaining holes in 5-under par while the others flinched. What was setting up as a drama-filled, multi-player back nine showdown to rival the one five years ago when Woods prevailed quickly evaporated.
Each of the three challengers made a crucial double bogey at the wrong time.
Of the challengers, only Åberg — who was competing in his first major at the Masters a year removed from still playing college golf — managed to break par. And he’d have needed to shoot 65 just to tie.
“Scottie is an unbelievable golf player, and I think we all expect him to be there when it comes down to the last couple holes of a tournament,’’ said Åberg, of Sweden, who played on the European Ryder Cup team last year and has won a tournament on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour. “He’s proven it again and again, and I think, you know, he makes us better. He makes you want to beat him, obviously, and, you know, that’s the same for me and the same for everyone else in this field.’’
It’s not so easy when Scheffler seemingly makes no mistakes. He made three bogeys Sunday, but they were hardly backbreaking, considering the seven birdies he made, including those at 13 and 14 to put the tournament away.
Scheffler hugs his caddie Ted Scott (Simon Bruty/Augusta National)
“He just seemed focused on doing Scottie Scheffler things,’’ said Ted Scott, Scheffler’s caddie. “That’s what he said on 13. He goes, ‘should we go for it?’ I said, ‘Absolutely.’ Why don’t we do what we do and what we’re good at. He’s the best ball striker in the world.
“He hit an unbelievable 4-iron, which is just incredible to that small target. Those targets seem big when you’re caddying for Scottie Scheffler. That’s how good he is.’’
Morikawa was a shot back at the start of the day and played with Scheffler. But his double bogey at the ninth when he “got greedy’’ doomed him. As did another at No. 11.
Homa, playing his best to date in a major, was right there on the 12th tee, only to hit what he thought was a good shot and see it sail over the green into an unplayable lie in some ivy groundcover. Double bogey.
Scott now has four Masters victories as a caddie, two each with Bubba Watson and Scheffler, whom he began caddying for in late 2022 when the golfer was — amazingly, in hindsight — a controversial pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team having no career tour victories at the time.
He’s also won the Masters twice in just five starts and joined Woods as just the second player to win the Players Championship and the Masters in the same year as well as the only No. 1 golfers to win the green jacket multiple times.
“I’m just pinching myself honestly,’’ Scott said of his boss. “I don't really know what I’m seeing. The guy is special. He’s a different kind of special. I think we’re all seeing it, and we’re all questioning where did this come from?
“When he called me, I had no idea he was that good. We were his partner in New Orleans. I was like, yeah, he’s a good player and he’s a great guy. I’d love to hang out with him. After two weeks, I was like, this guy is really good. Now it’s like, wow, is he really good. I’m surprised, too.’’
Presuming Meredith has the baby on schedule, Scheffler will undoubtedly be a big favorite next month at the PGA Championship at Valhalla as well. Two more signature events await on the PGA Tour first, and we’ll see if any type of exhaustion sets in with all the excitement of a major victory and pending fatherhood.
Perhaps that will provide some obstacles. For this week, the treachery of Augusta National was certainly not enough.
Ludvig Åberg made impressive major debut (Simon Bruty/Augusta National)
Ludvig Åberg is for real
After 72 holes in his first career major championship, the questions aren’t if he is the real deal, but how good can he be?
The facts are stunning:
1 — He shot the best score in the second round when many of the green jackets were trying to remember worse conditions. Even Zach Johnson, who also had to deal with questionable conditions in his 2007 win, didn’t remember that week worse than Friday’s 40 mph gusts.
Åberg’s 3-under 69 on Friday also catapulted the 24-year-old to the leaderboard where he found a home for the reminder of the tournament.
2 — The double-bogey six on the 11th hole Sunday put Åberg behind the proverbial 8-ball and ultimately cost him the chance to win his first major title.
While many watching may have questioned the second shot into the water, Åberg confirmed it was a shot he had been playing all week, taking a line at the right edge of the green and letting it draw back into the green.
On Sunday, the ball drifted just a little too far and found the pond.
3 — After the double-bogey on 11, Åberg came back with a vengeance making birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 to solidify his eventual second-place finish. Aberg admitted that what he did after that rookie mistaje was a good example to just keep playing and make sure to keep the ball in front of you.
“I think if you just keep playing, skills are going to show up,” Åberg said.
“There’s a lot of holes left to be played. I think me finishing well after those couple holes were pretty encouraging to see.”
4 — Åberg is ready after leaving Augusta National for the next major at Valhalla and the PGA Championship next month.
“Just to be in this situation and feel the nerves and feel the pressure walking down the last couple holes is what you dream of,” he said. “This is what I have been wanting to do for such a long time, and it’s quite surreal to actually have the opportunity to experience it.”
5 — His European Ryder Cup mates Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry call Åberg “the future world No. 1” and the young man doesn’t shy away from those expectations.
“Everyone in my position, they are going to want to be major champions. They are going to want to be world No. 1s, and it’s the same for me, and that’s nothing different,” Åberg said. “It’s been that way ever since I picked up a golf club, and that hasn’t changed. So I think this week solidifies a lot of those things are there, and we just need to keep doing those things and put ourselves in positions to win tournaments.”
6 — Not only did Åberg nearly pull a Fuzzy at Augusta and win as debutante, he flirted with some rare company who won majors in their first attempts. Since 1900, it’s happened just three times: Francis Ouimet at the 1913 U.S Open; Ben Curtis at the 2003 Open; and Keegan Bradley at the 2011 PGA Championship.
Tiger Woods finished alone in last in 100th Masters round. (Simon Bruty/Augusta National)
Tiger bottoms out in 100th round
A Sunday tee time at 9:35 a.m. is not what any player in the Masters wants, much less a five-time champion allergic to the concept of being a ceremonial golfer. Tiger Woods has always preferred late afternoon with a green jacket on the line to a morning stroll with nothing at stake.
But there was Woods on Sunday, walking through a massive sea of parting patrons who packed the first tee to see the 48-year-old who remains the needle in golf start his 100th career round in the Masters. On the practice range early to warm up, Woods listened to swing thoughts from his 15-year-old son, Charlie.
Fittingly, it was an American amateur — Neal Shipley — who would accompany Woods on Sunday at Augusta National. Twenty-nine years ago, it was Woods who was the 19-year-old amateur collegian when he played his first Masters round with the defending champion José María Olazábal. The reining Spaniard taught the young Tiger a lesson, shooting a sterling 66 to share the lead. Woods shot even-par 72 en route to a T41 finish.
But it was his first official Masters putt after hitting the green in regulation that Woods remembers most.
“I putted off the green right into the gallery playing with Ollie,” Woods said in 2020. “Chipped back up there and made the putt for bogey, and that was one of the most embarrassing moments that I can ever remember.”
This Sunday included a stubbed pitch on No. 3 that rolled back down the steep slope further away than where he started and a triple bogey on 5 that included a cart ride back to the tee when his drive was deemed unplayable. Yet the patrons cheered Woods on every painful step of the way the way they once did Arnold Palmer.
“Just the attention he gets and the roars,” Shipley said. “It’s awesome to see the patrons really appreciative of him and really enjoy having him out here.”
Like Woods in 1995, Shipley was the only amateur to make the cut, securing the low amateur silver medal and an invitation to the Butler Cabin on Sunday night before he ever struck a shot this weekend. His frustration with an 80 on Saturday quickly dissipated when the final round pairings came out.
“My caddie came up to me and said, ‘Hey, guess who we are going to be paired with tomorrow?’” Shipley said. “I was just like, ‘No way it’s Tiger.’ And he said, ‘Yeah.’ I got pretty excited, and that’s when the emotions turned around.”
Woods didn’t have his Sunday killer focus in his Sun Day Red garb, walking and talking with Shipley about things such as how Tiger preferred Oakmont — where the 23-year-old Shipley caddied as a kid — before they culled all the trees. “I’m not old enough to remember that Oakmont,” Shipley said.
Scheffler and low amateur Neal Shipley (Joel Marklund/Augusta National)
“I definitely think it’s one of my more relaxed rounds of the week,” added Shipley, who shot 73 and beat Woods by four. “I think Tiger made me feel really welcomed. I mean, he was cool, chatting it up … like a casual round with Tiger, you know, other than you’re here at the Masters.”
Woods had spoken at the start of the week about “passing on the knowledge to the next generation,” and on Sunday he got to do just that.
“I think the Masters does an incredible job of bringing together the past and the future of the game of golf,” Woods said
After making the cut a record 24th consecutive time with a gritty 1-over performance in the high winds that buffeted the first two days, Woods looked old and broken on the weekend. His 82 on Saturday was the highest major championship score of his career, and his 77 on Sunday meant a final score of 304 (16-over) that marks his highest as a pro for 72 holes. For the tournament, Woods finished 60th and last among those players who made the cut — just the third time he's finished at the bottom following a cut in his career. The others were at the 2015 Memorial and 2020 Genesis Invitational.
“Unfortunately, I got out of position a lot yesterday and a couple times today,” Woods said.
After 16, Woods shook hands with CBS broadcaster Verne Lundquist, who worked the 16th hole in his 40th and final Masters — a career of memorable soundbites that included the famous “In your life!” call on Tiger’s parabolic chip-in that fell over the lip on 16 en route to his 2005 victory.
Woods didn’t have the week he wanted, but shooting 15-over weekend didn’t diminish his achievement this week.
“It was a good week all around,” he said. “I think that coming in here, not having played a full tournament in a very long time, it was a good fight on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately, yesterday it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to.”
Woods says he’s not done. He continues pointing ahead toward upcoming majors at Valhalla and Pinehurst and Royal Troon, working to do better than only two rounds of inspiring golf.
“Well, just keep lifting, keep the motor going, keep the body moving, keep getting stronger, keep progressing,” he said. “Hopefully the practice sessions will keep getting longer.”