The recently victorious Scottie Scheffler has put on quite a show in his journey from humble beginnings here in Dallas to being considered an up-and-coming PGA star.
Scheffler defeated Patrick Cantlay in the WM Phoenix Open, shooting a 67 and sinking a 26-foot birdie putt to place himself in first. With his victory, along with a sizable winnings check ($1,476,000, per PGA Tour Media), Scheffler moved up to fourth ranked in the FedEx Cup. Despite being a Ryder Cup champion, Sunday was Scheffler’s first PGA tournament win.
Scheffler was born in New Jersey, but moved to Dallas at a young age, attending Highland Park High School. He played golf at the University of Texas, where he won three state titles in a row. According to PGA, Scheffler and Jordan Spieth are the only two golfers in history to win three straight Big 12 titles. From then on, Scheffler has maintained a relatively consistent climb to the PGA tour.
Scheffler first won the 2013 US Junior Amateur, and next the 2014 Junior Invitational. In 2016, he qualified for the US Open. Despite winning twice in the Korn Ferry Tour, and being named 2020 player of the year, Scheffler had yet to win a PGA Tour match. In the 2020 PGA Championship, he placed fourth, a tantalizing position for the 25-year-old.
The Phoenix Open was undoubtedly a fun tournament for Scheffler to win. With the rowdiest crowd seen in recent history, fans cheered and jeered the entire weekend. At some points, most notably after Carlos Ortiz’s hole-in-one, the tournament had to pause as officials cleaned the green of thrown beer cans.
Again on hole 16, Harry Higgs and Joel Dahmen fueled the crowd by taking off their shirts and swinging them, which was met with a further onslaught of beer. Overall, the tournament would likely have left golf purists back in Augusta quaking. Yet Scheffler’s victories have proven him to be yet another impressive athlete to come out of Dallas.