This time 43 days ago, Scottie Scheffler had never won the PGA Tour. Six weeks later, he won three tournaments, made $6.2 million and set to become number 1 golfer in the world.
Scheffler knocked out Dustin Johnson 3 and 1 in the semifinals of the 2022 WGC-Dell Match on Sunday morning and Kevin Kisner 4 and 3 in the final later in the afternoon to claim the event. Scheffler dominated throughout the day, leading 31 of the 32 holes he played against two of this tournament’s last four champions. His match with Kisner never ended. After they tied the first hole with a birdie, it looked like the beginning of an epic match. But Kisner stumbled a bit for the rest of the day, and Scheffler easily knocked him out with four more birdies and a no-magic inning.
Domination is also his symbol of the week. Scheffler almost leads the field in strokes taken from tee to green for the week, which isn’t necessarily indicative of a great game but usually tells you who’s giving you the best chances advance. Scheffler took advantage of them. He snuck out of a pool game against Tommy Fleetwood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Ian Poulter by beating Fitzpatrick in a six-hole playoff Friday afternoon.
Then he put the gas down. In 66 holes spread over four games over the weekend, Scheffler has only gone five and hasn’t lost any of his last 57 holes. It was the completion of a six-week run of unprecedented success for the 25-year-old.
Forty-two days ago, Scheffler was busy closing the WM Phoenix Open on Super Bowl Sunday. It felt very epic at the time – a 25-year-old broke through to claim his first career win in a pivotal moment with a fantastic football pitch. Now, it’s almost like a footnote of the past six weeks. Little did we know at the time that it would be the gateway to two more (and arguably more impressive) wins leading to his world No.
I didn’t know the ceiling was this high for Scheffler. I’m not sure he did either. When asked after the round about 1st place, he burst into tears and said, “I never really got this far in my dreams.”
However, he’s come a long way in practice, and someone we’ve been told needs to claim his first win in a while has now done so much more in just less than two months. A star emerges in Phoenix on Super Bowl Sunday. A young American who succeeded and was crushed at the Ryder Cup has just earned his first big win. But something happened between Phoenix and Austin. Now, in a pinch with the most important event of the year just over a week away in Augusta, Georgia, Scheffler is no longer simply a star on the PGA Tour.
When you’re 25, a three-time winner this season and world No. 1, you can’t be. No, come in masters Looking down on Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy and Johnson, Scheffler is now a superstar. It happened so fast you might have missed it, but there’s still time to catch up as Scottie Scheffler will be among the best in the world for a long time. Rank: A +
Here are our remaining scores for the 2022 WGC-Dell Match.
2. Kevin Kisner: Another impressive run for Kisner, who played Austin Country Club just as Hideki Matsuyama played TPC Scottsdale or McIlroy played Quail Hollow Country Club. He’s completely mastered the spot with three appearances on Sunday in his last four appearances at the event. All three finished with places in the championship match. Despite the loss to Scheffler, Kisner’s record on this field is completely absurd, and it shows both the value of Austin Country Club as a game field and how well he can play on a single line. race without disproportionately rewarding tee length. Kisner using every shot he has in his tricks bag is a joy to watch and has also become the norm on this golf course. Rank: A +
4. Dustin Johnson: The DJ has been pretty upbeat this week, which is a bit confusing heading into the major championship season. His entry into the semi-finals was certainly impressive, and he hit the ball well in the quarterfinals against four-time main winner, Brooks Koepka. A word of caution, however, for those who might be overreacting to a good week (as playing the game can sometimes mask some problems): DJ hits the ball well but not too much. It was mostly a hot throw and the matches got him into Sunday afternoon games. In fact, of the four golfers who made it to four Sundays, DJ had the worst tee times on the green of anyone. This may or may not mean anything to the Masters for two weeks, but it’s interesting considering the level of success he’s had over the course of the week. Grade A
T5. Brooks Koepka: I was impressed with Koepka’s fight. He ran into the same problem that DJ did in their quarterfinals: absolutely nothing landed on the green (unfortunately for him, more putts fell for the DJ than they did for Koepka). However, Koepka has emerged a little over the past few months and is an attractive proposition for Augusta National. In his last 22 major championship starts, he has 18 finishes in the top 15. He hits the ball well in Austin and has three top 20 finishes in his last five starts in tournament events. sticks on the PGA Tour. At 18-1 for the Masters now, he’s got my full attention. Grade A
