How Scottie Scheffler Won The 2022 Masters

SCOTTIE Scheffler began 2022 still looking for his first tournament victory. He finished The Masters as champion and world number one as he won his fourth event in an extraordinary run of form. 

He closed with a 1-under 71 for a three-shot victory over Rory McIlroy, who holed out from the bunker on the final hole for a record-tying final round of 64 and hope that the pressure would get to Scheffler over the closing holes. Not a chance!

Just 56 days earlier, he was still searching for his first PGA Tour victory. This was the 25-year-old’s four victory in six starts.

Scheffler overcame a nervy moment early in the round by chipping in for birdie. He holed key putts to keep Cameron Smith at bay and never looked like being caught.

McIlroy was runner-up. In the end, it was Smith who crumbled. He was three shots out of the lead when he dumped his tee shot in Rae's Creek on the par-3 12th hole for a triple bogey that ended his hopes.

Smith closed with a 73 and tied for third with Shane Lowry, who birdied the 18th for a 69.

Scheffler joined Ian Woosnam in 1991 as the only players to win a major - The Masters in both cases - in their debut at No. 1 in the world. Scheffler, who finished at 10-under 278, won $2.7 million

He won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in a playoff on Super Bowl Sunday. He followed that with a comeback win at Bay Hill to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational. And he rose to No. 1 in the world by winning the WGC- Dell Technologies Match Play in Texas.

Scheffler's big moment came early in the round, and it was no less significant.

Starting the final round with a three-shot lead, he watched Smith open with two straight birdies to the cut the deficit to one, and then Scheffler's approach from the pine needles left of the third fairway came up short and rolled back down the slope.

His pitch was racing toward the hole when it banged into the pin and dropped for an unlikely birdie, and a two-shot swing when Smith from the same position made bogey.

After a birdie at the 11th, Smith's shot was still in the air when he let his club slip through his hands and he closed his eyes as it splashed into Rae's Creek. The next shot wasn't much better, but at least dry, and Smith's hopes ended there with a triple bogey.

He was three behind standing on the 12th tee. Three holes later, he was eight back.

From there, any hope resided with McIlroy. All he needed to complete the career Grand Slam was to match the best final round in Masters history and get some help from Scheffler. He only got one of those and had to settle for his first silver medal from Augusta.

Not that he didn't create some Sunday magic. McIlroy went bunker-to-bunker on the 18th hole, leaving himself right of the green and aiming some 25 feet right of the flag. It rode the slope all the way into the hole, setting off one of the loudest roars of the week.

Playing partner Collin Morikawa followed him in from the same bunker, different angle, and McIlroy could only laugh.

“This tournament never ceases to amaze,” McIlroy said. "That’s as happy as I’ve ever been on a golf course right there. Just having a chance - and then with Collin, we both played so well all day - and for both of us to finish like this, I was just so happy for him, too.

“I've never heard roars like that on the 18th green.”

Scheffler still had five holes in front of him, with no evidence he was going to be anything but the smooth, smart operator who seized control on Friday in the toughest conditions to build a five-shot lead and never lost it.

In 2023, he returns as the defending champion, once again displaying ominous form.