At the 107th USPGA Championship at Quail Hollow last week, Scottie Scheffler won his third major championship and showed precisely why he is ranked the best golfer in the world. Those three majors have been accumulated in a little over three years. In that time-frame, he has won 15 titles in all. He won this one by five shots, the extent of his mastery being underlined by the manner in which he shrugged off his only last-round threat.
Quail Hollow is renowned for its distinctly difficult finale, the closing three holes, which are known as the ‘Green Mile’. In truth, this is something of a misnomer given that the total yardage is actually a tad under 1250 yards, but in America they were never going to call it the ‘Green Kilometre’. (Though I think the ‘Killer Kilo’ would sound quite scary!) To get to a full mile they would have to include the par-five 15th. Whatever, on Saturday afternoon this stretch was where Scheffler locked one hand on the Wanamaker Trophy. At six under par on the tee of the par-four 14th, he was two shots out of the lead. He then drove the green, made an eagle with a four-foot putt and then birdied the 15th. Confronting the Green Mile, Scottie didn’t quail at Quail Hollow. He covered it in par-birdie-birdie. Result: a three-shot lead over Alex Noren.
On Sunday, the final holes helped seal the victory for Scheffler. When Jon Rahm made a birdie on the 11th, he was tied for the lead with the 28-year-old American. Seven holes later, he had posted a score that would leave him seven shots adrift of Scheffler’s winning total of 273, 11 under par. The Green Mile had done for him with a bogey and two doubles. The three runners-up – Bryson DeChambeau, Harris English and Davis Riley – had never been at the races.
Scheffler had begun the week by criticising the tournament officials for not permitting preferred lies in the fairways given how much rain the course had taken in recent days, making ‘mud balls’ a commonplace occurrence. The mild-mannered Scheffler (remember, a traffic brouhaha led to his arrest at this event last year) called the decision “unfair”. He added: “It’s one of those deals where it’s frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it’s going to go.” Over the course of the week, however, he clearly had more idea than anyone else.
For the world No. 2, Rory McIlroy, this was the first major championship of the AD (Augusta Defeated) era. It was a course on which he had previously been victorious four times. His opening round of 74 gave an early indication he wouldn’t be completing the nap hand. One of the best drivers ever, he hit only two fairways. It was that sort of week for him, which ended as it had begun, the fourth round leaving him, as had the first, at three over par. It’s now on to Oakmont and Portrush. Let’s not mention the possibility of his driver belatedly being ruled to be non-conforming according to USGA specifications. For McIlroy (given what happened at the Masters, at Pebble Beach and at the Players Championship) this year has already been a field of dreams.
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