PGA Tour pro Scottie Scheffler took home golf’s most prestigious award on April 10, winning the 2022 Masters Championship. Scheffler, a Dallas native, won his first green jacket after a nerve-wracking final round with Rory McIlroy in hot pursuit. The Master’s victory is Scheffler’s first-ever PGA Tour major win after placing first in February’s Phoenix Open.
To say that Scheffler was catapulted straight into the PGA leaderboard would be an understatement. Flying relatively under the radar for previous years, his win at the Phoenix Open began a streak that would continue for 42 days.
Next came a victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then the World Golf Championships Match Play event. Winning four out of the last six tournaments, Scheffler was pushed all the way to No.1 in the world in late March.
Finally, Scheffler directed his laser focus to the biggest of the majors, the Masters.
Scheffler held a cushion of only three strokes by the end of Saturday’s round, with Cameron Smith in second. On Sunday, with a less-than-ideal chip shot on hole three, the lead shrank to only one stroke. However, Scheffler recovered stellarly, draining his next chip shot for a birdie.
Smith was toppled from second as Rory McIlory blazed his way up from ten strokes behind during the final round. With a mind-boggling eight under par for the final round, McIlory was able to clinch second place.
Scheffler was running away with the tournament with a three-stroke lead heading into the final holes. On 18, he three-putted from close range to earn a double bogey on the hole. Thankfully for Scheffler, the last hole ordeal proved to be more comical than anything, and he finished the round three strokes ahead of the field.
Usually calm and cool-headed, Scheffler admitted to feeling some pressure coming into Sunday’s round. He said during an interview that he shed tears before the competition on Sunday and had been “so stressed out.”
Still, the nerves were no match for Scheffler when it came time to play.
“It’s off the course that’s hard for me. But I did a good job of keeping my concentration when playing. I calmed right down when I got to the golf course,” he told the New York Times.