Scheffler eases to four-stroke victory at Masters Tournament, earns a second Green Jacket

 

Tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler stamped his class on the 88th Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, winning his second Green Jacket in three years by a comfortable four-stroke margin over Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg.

Starting Title Sunday with a one-stroke advantage, world number one Scheffler was briefly troubled by a chasing pack that included Aberg, playing partner Collin Morikawa and fellow-American Max Homa before running away from the field to earn a $3.6 million pay-day.

Scheffler’s 4 under par 68 was only bettered by young Korean Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim whose blistering 6 under 66 carried him to shared 30th place on the final leaderboard. Kim incidentally won his first full professional title at the Classic Golf and Country Club near Gurgaon in the form of the since-discontinued Panasonic Open India tournament.

Sunday’s outcome was Scheffler’s ninth PGA Tour win and helped him follow in the footsteps of Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as holder of both the Masters and Players Championship titles in the same year, and also made him the fourth-youngest repeat champion at Augusta National behind Nicklaus, Woods, and the late Severiano Ballesteros.

Swedish tyro Aberg (73-69-70-69), Morikawa, Homa and England’s Tommy Fleetwood all came close but were unable to sustain their challenge despite Scheffler briefly falling into their clutches on the front nine. Scheffler bogeyed hole 7 which Morikawa and Aberg birdied and with Homa also picking up a shot on eight, there was briefly a four-way tie for the lead.

Scheffler (66-72-71-68), however birdied eight, nine and 10 and though he dropped one more shot at the famed Amen Corner (holes 11, 12 and 13) the others gave away double-bogeys on the stretch to fall away again. After that, it was Scheffler’s tournament to lose and further gains on 14 and 16 ensured no further bumps on the road to victory.

LIV Golf League personnel were well-represented on the learderboard with Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau tying for sixth place, Tyrrel Hatton finishing in nonth, and former Masters winner Patrick Reed taking a share of 12th place.

Scheffler has returned home to Texas where he will soon become a father with his wife Meredith expecting their first child. “I can't put into words what it means to win this tournament again,” Scheffler said. “I really can't put into words what it's going to be like to be a father for the first time.

“I'm looking forward to getting home and celebrating with Meredith. It's been a long week here without her but I'm just looking forward to getting home. I will definitely enjoy the birth of my first child but with that being said, I still love competing. My priorities will change here very soon.

“My son or daughter will now be the main priority, along with my wife, so golf will now be probably fourth in line. But I still love competing. I don't plan on taking my eye off the ball anytime soon, that's for sure.”

Indian Americans Akshay Bhatia (73) and Sahith Theegala (75), finished tied for 35th and 45th. It was a Masters debut for Bhatia while Theegala was playing at Augusta National for the second time.

Bhatia, who won the Texas Open to earn his way into the Masters field, said, “I haven't truly understood what's happened the last couple weeks. Everything about it is amazing. Volunteers, all the green jackets, they were so kind, so welcoming, so congratulating. I think being my first Masters, it's pretty cool kind of being the last person in. All in all, it was an awesome week. Had a lot of family out there, and it was a special week for a lot of us.”

Added Theegala, “I was just so happy last year with how I played. I played great all week last year. My game feels better than it did last year. I just made so many mental mistakes. Just got a little antsy and tried to push things, and my short game was off. I had probably four or five three-putts today.”

Of the Asian challenge at the year’s first major, South Korean Byeong Hun An was tied 16th for his best Masters finish but was also left rueing the fact that he missed out on an automatic return to Augusta National by a single stroke. The 32-year-old signed off on his fifth appearance at Augusta National with a 3 over 75 that mixed five birdies, six bogeys and a double. The top-12 finishers and ties earn invitations back to next year’s Masters.

Behind him, 2021 champion Hideki Matsuyama was tied 38th with a closing 74, Tom Kim was tied 30th and Si Woo Kim signed off with a 70 in his eighth successive Masters appearance.

“First two days were great. Obviously, the weekend was a little disappointing. I feel like my ball striking was there, but putting let me down,” An told the PGA Tour later. “Yesterday I could have had six more birdies, a lot more pars … same today. It was very disappointing to finish this way. I've got to figure something out. It's golf.”

Five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods finished at the bottom of the 60-strong leaderboard with his highest 72-hole tour aggregate of 304 strokes but will also have left Augusta with the all-time record of consecutive cuts at the event, ahead of Gary Player and Fred Couples.