From Scheffler to Rahm and from Rahm to Scheffler. A great round of golf is held in Augusta. A handful of stars are competing for the green jacket. Tension floats in the air and big blows alternate in every corner with mistakes. At stake is the first major of the season and inheriting the most famous garment in the sport from the shoulders of Jon Rahm, last year’s champion. Avoiding the traps that the course hides is almost a guarantee of success, but not even the best players can sometimes escape the labyrinth that Augusta can become on a Masters Sunday. The key may be in the mind more than in the hands, and the strongest there is the world number one, Scottie Scheffler.
At the age of 27, the American achieved his second green jacket, his second great one, after the one he achieved in 2022. The following year he dressed Rahm as the champion and now it is the Basque who returns the jewel. There is some symbolism in that delivery. Rahm, star signing of the Saudi League, gives up the crown to the great flag of the PGA Tour. Scheffler wins with -11, four strokes ahead of the great Swede Ludvig Aberg and seven over Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood and Max Homa (-4). Two LIV men, Cameron Smith and Bryson DeChambeau, travel next (-2). Xander Schauffele (-1) closes the select group of only eight sub-par players in the field. Rory McIlroy is 22nd with +4, Jon Rahm and Jose María Olazabal tie for 45th place with +9 and Tiger Woods is 60th and last among those who made the cut with the highest result of his career in the Masters, +16.
Scheffler won with one eye on the field and one eye off it. The American received special permission for one person on his team to carry a cell phone, although they are prohibited in Augusta. The reason was to warn him if his wife, Meredith, went into labor. Scheffler had promised that he would leave the beat to attend the birth of his first child. Nothing strange in a man of his word, very religious (he met his caddy in a Bible study group) and for whom their sport is not at the center of the universe. “Golf is a huge part of my life, but it doesn’t define me as a person, it’s just something I do. My father never saw me as a golfer nor pushed me towards it. They wanted him to have a good education and be kind to people. There are many parents who want their children to be good athletes and think that that is happiness, but that is not the case,” explains Scheffler.
The number one sported a set of rulers tee to green and he resisted while his rivals fell along the way. Morikawa came out of the 9th bunker with a double bogeyand with two too many strokes after landing in the water in the 11th. The surprising Swede Ludvig Aberg, enlisted in the first major of his career, drowned with another double bogey in the 11th, the only thing that stopped him. And also in Amen Corner, Homa skated with two more hits in the 12th. Scheffler, as if nothing had happened, with six birdies in the last 11 holes, a golfing machine heading towards the green jacket to celebrate the PGA in these times of conflict with the LIV. The American has already flown into 2022 with four victories in 57 days, with the top of the Masters and world number one. And there he remains, at the top, owner of a check for 3.6 million dollars. It is also the first time that he has won again at Augusta after 11 different winners in the 11 previous editions.
Aberg, a professional since June, was left behind, very relaxed and smiling, as if history were not at stake and joined Ben Curtis (British Open 2003) and Keegan Bradley (PGA 2011) as the only ones to be crowned in their first Grand Slam event. He also dismounted Homa, seeking his first major award. And Morikawa, who received his doctorate in the PGA in 2020 and in the British in 2021 in his first appearances in those tournaments. Until this Sunday he was the only one who had gone under par in the three previous rounds. He did not resist. All behind the imperial Scheffler.
Augusta Masters classification.
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