Behind 9 birdies, 0 bogeys and a brand new placing grip, Scottie Scheffler wins Hero

December 8, 2024

Scottie Scheffler hits his tee shot on Sunday on the thirteenth gap on the Albany Golf Course.

Getty Photographs

Scottie Scheffler wins. Copy and paste. Rinse and repeat. Ought to you might have been in a vacation rush, missed the printed and had been questioning what went down, know that it was a little bit of a repeat. This yr’s winner of the Arnold Palmer Championship, the Gamers Championship, the Masters, the RBC Heritage, the Memorial, the Vacationers, the Olympics and the Tour Championship — exhales — is the winner of the Hero World Championship.

It was a present, too, throughout Sunday’s remaining spherical at Albany Golf Course. There was just a little of every thing. You want precision? Scheffler was exact. He hit 17 of 18 greens. You want creativity? Scheffler was inventive. A low-flighted stinger on the par-5 ninth dodged hassle, resulting in birdie. You want inventiveness? Scheffler was ingenious. His newly employed claw placing grip will probably stick round.

There was a rally, too. Scheffler began the ultimate spherical a shot again of chief Justin Thomas, however three holes and two birdies later, he was the chief for good. From there, he tacked on birdies at 4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16 and 18 — that’s 9 birdies in all, with zero bogeys — shot a 63 and completed at 25-under general, six photographs forward of runner-up Tom Kim.

However right here’s the factor: Return to that first paragraph. You kinda anticipated Scheffler to win, proper? Take a look at that 2024 CV. It was additionally a lot of the identical in 2022 and 2023.

And that, Thomas mentioned earlier within the week, is what makes him undeniably nice, perhaps extra so than every other attribute. In April, on the RBC Heritage, he provided an identical opinion. Eight months later, nothing has modified.

“I feel it’s very underneath — simply underrated how properly he’s taking part in for anticipating to play that properly,” Thomas mentioned. “I don’t assume individuals perceive how troublesome it’s to win while you’re anticipated to win or when each single individual that’s there expects you to play properly and also you count on you to play properly after which to nonetheless play properly. I feel expectations are one thing — it’s very, very onerous to handle. It really is simply as a lot of a expertise as having the ability to, you realize, management your distance together with your wedges or flight a driver or hit it far, no matter it’s, is having the ability to keep current, keep within the second.

“I feel — once I consider the blokes which are one of the best at that, I consider Scottie and Xander [Schauffele], they’re two of one of the best while you play with them, they keep current and keep within the second irrespective of how the day goes. I feel that’s — it’s very onerous to elucidate, however it’s so onerous to do typically. It’s typically even tougher while you’re taking part in that properly as a result of it’s straightforward to assume like, properly, if I preserve taking part in like this, I’m going to win this event, I’m going to win the subsequent event and the subsequent one versus really — I imply, Tiger [Woods] at all times talked about it, each shot’s a very powerful shot you’ve ever hit in your life, and after you hit that one, you go do it once more and subsequent factor you realize, you’re like oh, I received once more. That’s a tough factor to do. To me, that’s been essentially the most spectacular factor from Scottie.”

So yeah, one other win for Scheffler.

However extremely so.

The takeaway

Scheffler isn’t slowing down. Each event — each single event — is in play for him subsequent yr.

The leaderboard breakdown

— Justin Thomas begins the ultimate spherical with a one-shot lead. Thomas is at 17-under, Scottie Scheffler is at 16-under, Tom Kim is at 15-under, and Keegan Bradley is at 13-under.

— Scheffler birdies the 439-yard, par-4 1st to maneuver right into a share of the lead, however Thomas shortly solutions with a birdie of his personal. Thomas is at 18-under, Scheffler is at 17-under, and Kim is at 15-under.

— Thomas bogeys the 177-yard, par-3 2nd after duffing a greenside chip shot, and Scheffler pars, and they’re tied for the lead. Thomas and Scheffler are at 17-under, Kim is at 15-under, and Bradley is at 13-under.

— Scheffler birdies the 561-yard, par-5 third after getting house in two, and he now leads by one. Scheffler is at 18-under, Thomas is at 17-under, and Kim is at 16-under.

— Scheffler birdies the 501-yard par-4 4th on a 49-foot putt, then Thomas matches with a birdie of his personal, and Scheffler nonetheless leads by one. Scheffler is at 19-under, Thomas is at 18-under, and Kim is at 16-under.

— Thomas bogeys the 167-yard, par-3 fifth after lacking the inexperienced on his tee shot, and Scheffler pars, and Scheffler now leads by two. Scheffler is at 19-under, Thomas is at 17-under, and Kim is at 16-under.

— Scheffler birdies the 629-yard, par-5 ninth after hitting his third shot to 4 toes, and he leads by two. Scheffler is at 20-under, Kim is at 18-under, and Thomas is at 17-under.

— Scheffler birdies the 437-yard, par-4 tenth on a 20-foot putt, and he leads by two. Scheffler is at 21-under, Kim is at 19-under, and Thomas is at 17-under.

— Kim bogeys the 580-yard, par-5 eleventh after lacking a 2-foot putt, and Scheffler’s lead is three. Scheffler is at 21-under, Kim is at 18-under, and Thomas is at 17-under.

— Scheffler birdies the 507-yard, par-4 thirteenth after hitting his second shot to 4 toes, and Scheffler’s lead is three. Scheffler is at 22-under, Kim is at 19-under, and Thomas is at 18-under.

— Scheffler birdies the 302-yard, par-4 14th after driving the inexperienced, and Scheffler’s lead is 4. Scheffler is at 23-under, and Kim and Thomas are at 19-under.

— Scheffler birdies the 480-yard, par-4 sixteenth after hitting his second shot, from the waste space, to 10 toes, and he leads by 5. Scheffler is at 24-under, Thomas is at 19-under, and Kim is at 18-under.

— Scheffler birdies the 478-yard, par-4 18th after hitting his second shot to three toes, and he finishes with a six-shot victory. The ultimate leaderboard reads this manner: Scheffler is at 25-under, Kim is at 19-under, and Thomas is at 18-under.

The ultimate phrase

“Yeah, very satisfying,” Scheffler mentioned on NBC after his victory. Not way more to say actually.

Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Editor

Nick Piastowski is a Senior Editor at Golf.com and Golf Journal. In his position, he’s accountable for modifying, writing and growing tales throughout the golf area. And when he’s not writing about methods to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native might be taking part in the sport, hitting the ball left, proper and brief, and consuming a chilly beer to clean away his rating. You may attain out to him about any of those matters — his tales, his sport or his beers — at nick.piastowski@golf.com.