Perched 30 yards to the left on a sizable hill that encircles the stadium-style closing course at TPC River Highlands, Scott Scheffler Sr. gazed over the 18th green. He paced back and forth, anticipating with much anxiety and excitement what was going to happen.
On the opening playoff hole of the Travelers Championship, his son Scottie Scheffler was down below, circling his ball 11 feet from the pin for a birdie. Tom Kim, who had just bladed his bunker shot way past the pin and missed the comebacker for par, had only 15 minutes earlier birdied the 18th to force a playoff.
Scheffler needed two more putts to win by 11 feet to record his sixth season triumph.
Nestled between a ShotLink tower and the edge of the grandstands, Scott found his perfect position to watch. However, that narrow spot in the viewing area served as the only access point for a cluster of giddy spectators who were lurking 20 feet behind Scott to observe the action.
“Hey, reposition yourself.”One fan shouted.
In an attempt to apologize, Scott knelt down and waved his hand, blocking his view in the process. At that moment, he realized he didn’t need to watch what would happen and shrugged his shoulders. He has observed a similar drama play out more than a few times in recent months. Those supporters hadn’t. They have a right to view it. In any case, the sound would tell the tale.
“Scottie, strike it softly.”he urged.
A few moments later, there was stillness. The roars intensified and continued. Scott was aware of the meaning behind that. His son had heeded his advice.
With a fist pump, Scott sprang to his feet and turned to face the clubhouse. Bennett, the 6-week-old baby of Scheffler’s wife Meredith, and she were waiting inside until the tournament was confirmed. After giving them a wave, Scott glanced down the hill to see his kid giving a hug to his caddy, Ted Scott. It was done.
At TPC River Highlands, Scheffler defeated Kim on the opening playoff hole to win the Travelers Championship. The two shot 22-under 258. Scheffler has already triumphed six games this season. Since 1962, when Arnold Paimer accomplished the task the quickest, he is the fastest. Since 1983, at least six seasons of winning have been achieved by three other players ,Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, and Nick Price but none has done so as quickly as Scheffler.
“It was a superb conclusion. There are a lot of them, you know, thrilling moments on this golf course as it nears its finish. I’m happy to be sitting here with the trophy; it was a lot of fun.”Scheffler said.
In just four months, Scheffler has completed an illustrious career that includes victories at four Signature Events, THE PLAYERS Championship, and the Masters. He has won 12 TOUR titles in his career, all of them since February 2022. With the exception of Woods, no other generation can equal the dominant run. Scheffler is now on his own, but he still has a ways to go before he reaches that tier.
When questioned about such fact, the world No. 1 does his best to avoid it. He would much prefer concentrate on the procedure than the outcome. Even when the wins come in at a record-breaking rate, winning is not what defines him. He can choose to overlook it. Not everyone in his vicinity does. They have a keen awareness. Painfully conscious are Wyndham Clark, Ludvig Åberg, Collin Morikawa, Sahith Theegala, and Kim. These are the runners-up, the players who excelled but made mistakes, and whose accomplishments will be forgotten in the passage of time. It is quite hard to produce perfect golf by nature. And you have to be flawless in order to win this Scheffler version.
“There is really little chance for you to succeed at this high level.”Kim said.
His thoughts instantly went to two three-putts, the first on the fourth hole on Saturday and the second on the eighth hole on Sunday. His only errors were those two. The distinction was them.
“I felt like I played pretty well today, which I knew I had to since I was playing against Scottie, who I know very, very well.”Kim said.
Scheffler is just a superior player overall.
It would be false to claim Scheffler is approaching people covertly in light of that. If such days ever were, they are long gone. There is no denying that he is the world’s greatest player by a wide margin. However, there’s something about golf competitions that can fool even the most seasoned golf observer into thinking something else will happen. Scheffler was not at all on people’s minds early on Sunday. He holed the first five as others took center stage.
After shooting 59 on Saturday, Cameron Young immediately put himself in the mix by birdieing his opening four holes. Kim started the day with a one-shot lead, but early birdies by Akshay Bhatia and Xander Schauffele tied the score. Scheffler, meanwhile, was stuck in neutral. That’s not the place to be at TPC River Highlands.
However, just when you think that Scheffler would not win the golf event this time around and that the inevitable ending might not materialize, everything suddenly becomes apparent, making any prior belief that someone else would triumph laughable. About halfway through Sunday’s round was that moment. With birdies at the par-5 sixth and par-4 seventh, Scheffler broke the tie and reached 19-under.
Then Kim blew the eighth, and all of a sudden Scheffler was in charge. It was never given up by him. In the ensuing sixty minutes, all the prominent competitors faltered. Schauffele easily defeated Nos. 7 and 9. A shot was missed by Bhatia in the ninth. On the par-3 16th hole, Finau rinsed his tee shot and made double, while Young made a double bogey at the 12th.
The only competitor to resist was Kim. On the tenth hole, he recovered with a birdie, and on the thirteenth and fifteenth, he tied Scheffler with birdies. However, Scheffler also made a birdie on the 14th, providing them with a one-shot lead as they approached the 18. With his approach shot, Kim almost created a Jordan Spieth moment in 2017 by frightening the hole for an eagle and a potential walk-off victory. The match went to extra holes when Kim made the birdie and Scheffler almost missed his own.
We are aware of what happened next. Kim gave a blink. Scheffler failed to do so. Not for months, has he
