Scheffler's back! (Was he ever gone?)
World No. 1 dominates wire-to-wire in record romp at Byron Nelson; Bryson wins, too
A year after Bennett was born, Scottie Scheffler finally wins his hometown Byron Nelson (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
Scottie Scheffler finally got his first win of 2025, as if it was some huge blemish that the reigning PGA Tour Player of the Year had yet to win. Yes, he’s back — even if he never really left.
The two-time Masters champion won in dominating style on Sunday, the outcome never really in doubt after an opening 61 at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson — his hometown Dallas event where he made his tour debut as an amateur in 2014 but skipped last year due to the birth of his son.
The fact that Scheffler won by eight shots at TPC Craig Ranch — and three times shot 30 over the first nine holes — was an emphatic way to return to the winner’s circle. It sets up a nice scenario with the PGA Championship a week away.
Scheffler is playing well. Justin Thomas is playing well. Masters champion Rory McIlroy is playing well. Byrson DeChambeau, who won the LIV Korea event on Sunday, is playing well. Even Jordan Spieth, who surged into fourth Sunday, is playing well enough to stoke the potential for yet another career-slam completion.
It suggests good things for the year’s second major championship, to be played at Charlotte’s Quail Hollow Golf Club.
Spieth, another Dallas-area resident who has yet to win the Nelson, played the first two rounds with Scheffler, shot a final-round 62 … and lost by 12 to finish fourth.
“I mean, it wasn’t that long ago I was definitely better than him, and now I’m definitely not right now,” Spieth said afterward. “I hate admitting that about anybody, but I just watched it those first two rounds, and like — I’ve got to get better. It’s very inspiring.”
With the victory, Scheffler posted his 14th career PGA Tour win, moving one past Spieth, who has just two victories in the last seven years and none in the last three years.
“It’s inspiring what he’s doing,” Spieth continued. “It makes me want to work harder and be better, especially after watching him for two days and just getting my butt kicked. I didn’t play great golf, but even if I did, it would have been hard to be at 18-under in two rounds. I don’t think I’ve ever done that.
“So just getting your butt kicked right there face-to-face at this tournament really stinks.”
Scheffler had four wins by this point last year, including the Masters. That success leads to unrealistic expectations and a high bar to match.
This week, he will be at No. 1 in the Official World Ranking for two full years, and his streak is already the longest outside of two terms at the top from Tiger Woods.
A relatively slow start to 2025 was the result of a Christmas Day cooking accident that took a chunk out of his right hand and required surgery, setting back his return to golf for a month.
While he didn’t win until Sunday, it’s not as if Scheffler has been awful. He already had five top-10s, including a fourth at the Masters. And he hasn’t missed a cut.
All of which suggests it takes an overzealous Louisville cop and Christmas Day cooking to keep Scheffler down.
But he wasn’t quite as sharp as he was a year ago, and that can make a difference.
“I wouldn’t say I was anxious or eager,” said Scheffler, who nonetheless sometimes exuded a vibe of frustration.
It would have been difficult for him to feel that way this time.
He shot 61-63-66-63 to match the PGA Tour scoring record of 253 and made it look easy in the process.
Scheffler is skipping this week’s signature event, the Truist Championship, which is being played at the Philadelphia Cricket Club for one year due to next week’s PGA at Quail Hollow.
While McIlroy returns this week to a new venue but an event he’s won four times, Scheffler takes the week off. It’s a shame, really, but understandable. He wanted to play his hometown event as well as the Charles Schwab Cup at Colonial the week after the PGA. You need to take a week off somewhere.
“When I think about this tournament, I think about a lot of different stuff. I grew up coming to watch it,” Scheffler said of the Nelson. “This was my first start on the PGA Tour when I was in high school. The girl I was dating at the time is now my wife. We have one son. My sister (Callie) was caddying for me at the time. She was here today. She has two kids.
“My family was all able to be here, and it was just really, really special memories, and I think at times it all comes crashing down to me at once. We have a lot of great memories as kids coming to watch this tournament. I just dreamed to be able to play in it, and it’s more of a dream to be able to win it.
“I never really got this far to be honest with you. I always just dreamed of playing golf on the PGA Tour. I would come out on the driving range and watch these guys practice, hitting their brand new range balls. That’s all I wanted to do was come out here and play a golf course that was in great shape and compete on the best golf courses in the world against the best players.
“It really is a lifetime of hard work and sacrifice from a lot of the people that I have around me, and my family is obviously the starter for that. Yeah, I guess when my family is here, I always tend to get a bit emotional.”
Scheffler has a few days to get over it. He’ll then prepare for the PGA, where he can make some more history.
Bryson DeChambeau roared over the line for his first win of 2025 in Korea (LIV Golf)
DeChambeau breaks the seal on 2025, too
Scottie Scheffler wasn’t the only 2024 major winner trying to breaks the ice in 2025. While reigning PGA and Open champion Xander Schauffele is still looking to get in the win column this season, two-time U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau can check that box off his to-do list with the PGA on tap.
DeChambeau finally converted a 36-hole lead into a LIV Golf victory on Sunday, shooting a 6-under 66 to hold off his Crushers teammate Charles Howell III’s charge with a 63 in the LIV Golf Korea event at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club in Incheon, South Korea.
“Charles and I had a great battle out there,” said DeChambeau, who finished at 19-under and two shots ahead of Howell. “He never wavered today. It was fun and we had a great time today, but it was intense. Super-intense.”
The individual victory is DeChambeau’s third in LIV Golf, but his first since 2023 — and his first after entering the final round with the lead. In the previous two LIV Golf events in Miami and Mexico City in which DeChambeau led after 36 holes — not to mention the Masters where he held the lead with 16 holes to play — all ended in disappointment for DeChambeau.
This time to held on to his four-shot 36-hole lead despite Howell drawing even with him with three holes left to play. That’s when Howell suffered his only bogey of the day on the 16th hole and DeChambeau made a 48-foot birdie putt at 17 to prompt a roar and stave off another near miss.
“I feel like I’ve been playing some great golf, but I just haven’t gotten the job done,” DeChambeau said. “That was a lot of tension. Just glad I was able to step up to the plate and get it done.
“I was personally pretty nervous on the front nine for whatever reason. Finally on 17, the bubble burst and I felt really good.”
The one-two finish also lifted the Crushers to its first team victory of the season.
Now DeChambeau will take his momentum to the PGA Championship where he narrowly finished runner-up by a stroke to Schauffele last year at Valhalla. He’ll have red-hot Scheffler and Rory McIlroy to contend with next week at Quail Hollow.
“My goal is to win every tournament that I show up to,” DeChambeau said of his mindset heading into the next major. “Scottie is on a great run. Joaquin Niemann is on a great run. Jon Rahm has been playing well. There’s a lot of star-studded talent out there right now that’s going to be in the PGA Championship. We’re going to be battling it out.
“Glad to have pushed through in this victory and won this event, but there’s a lot more work to be done this year. There’s three more majors, and my eyes are focused on that with all the other LIV events, doing my absolute best in every single event I show up to.”