As he strutted up the 18th, you could barely tell that he was on the cusp of another major triumph, such is the coolness and aura of the man. In the end, he needed two putts to clinch his fourth major title and his second of the year after reigning victorious at the PGA Championship back in May, finishing on -17 and four shots ahead of the rest.
After a few seconds of letting the moment sink in, he lifted his arms aloft and let out a roar, finally releasing his emotions and celebrating with his wife and child. This was a special performance, and Scheffler is unquestionably something special.
“I don’t know exactly what to say… Thank you to the fans, I know I wasn’t the fan favourite today but I did hear a lot of USA and Dallas, Texas chants, so I appreciate you guys coming out to support. The fan support all week was tremendous,” Scheffler said.
Just like at the PGA Championship, Harris English finished second behind Scheffler at -13, while last week’s Scottish Open champion Chris Gotterup ended at -12. It has been a fine fortnight for him. World number two Rory McIlroy finished at -10.
Scheffler has a remarkable and frankly unmatched ability to make golf look so straightforward and take the intrigue out of affairs because of just how ruthless he is. And in truth, the ice-cool, laser-focused American was in firm control after the second round, and a four-shot lead heading into Sunday proved too steep a hill for his competitors to climb, especially with the way he was playing.
The 29-year-old now finds himself in esteemed company, joining Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only men to win the Masters, PGA and Open before the age of 30.
The Texas native’s superiority is frightening for every other mere mortal, with McIlroy describing him as ‘inevitable’. Scheffler has often been compared to 15-time major winner Woods, and he seems to have borrowed his trait of suffocating the rest of the field with sheer relentlessness.
Starting the day -14, Scheffler began his final round in sensational fashion, tapping in for birdie after a magnificent approach shot at the first. By the fifth hole, he had stretched his lead to a whopping seven shots as his rivals faltered in the wake of a man glowing with confidence.
His putter continued to be on fire throughout, but a sloppy unforced error in the bunker at the eighth meant he could only double bogey – his first dropped shots since the 11th hole in the second round – as Gotterup closed the gap to four shots. He finally proved he was human, as the smallest of openings appeared.
But as he always does, Scheffler bounced back with a birdie at the next hole, fending off any doubts that he could be reeled in by the chasing pack. A birdie on the 12th saw him move back up to -17, and there was no looking back from there, as he parred every hole from then on to get his hands on the Claret Jug.
“I’ve been putting it really nice all year,” Scheffler said. “I had a lot of solid starts. I was waiting for a week when the hole was looking big. I holed some really important putts on the front nine. The putter was definitely a weapon.”
Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau, who ended the first round at +7, mounted a startling turnaround to end the week at -9, as last year’s champion, Xander Schauffele, ended at -10.
McIlroy, who many thought would be Scheffler’s closest competitor today, made too many mistakes, despite the best efforts of a phenomenal Northern Irish crowd to spur him on.
And what next for Scheffler? He now stands on the verge of completing the career Grand Slam, with a US Open title the only major title missing from what is already a stellar CV.
McIlroy became just the sixth player to complete the Grand Slam at the Masters in April, and it would be no surprise if Scheffler was able to become the seventh as soon as next year.
We are witnessing a spell of dominance in golf that hasn’t been seen for many a year, and if he can keep this up, who knows what records he can break.
