Scottie Scheffler came up just short in his pursuit for a third green jacket.
The 2022 and 2024 Masters champion went from even par at the end of cut day to 7 under going into the final round of play. Scheffler kept the momentum going on Sunday with a 4-under-par 68.
But when it was all said and done, he finished one stroke behind Rory McIlroy for the Masters Tournament title. It marks Scheffler’s first runner-up in his seven-year Masters career.
“The first two days I played what I felt was really solid on Thursday, and then Friday with the softer greens, that round really hurt, especially mistakes I made on the back nine,” Scheffler said. “But overall over the weekend I put up a good fight, did a lot of good stuff in order to give myself a chance and ultimately came up a couple shots short.”
In his last two rounds of these Masters, the 29-year-old made some history, too. Not only was his score of 133 over the weekend a personal best for him, he also became the first player in the last 84 years to go bogey-free on the final 36 holes at the Masters.
In that stretch he made nine birdies and an eagle. Three of those birdies came consecutively on Nos. 14, 15 and 16 on Sunday and were his final shots to take from par.
Despite his historic weekend, the results could have been even better. Numerous putts were mere inches away from being birdies. If even half of those should-have-been birdies dropped, Scheffler may be walking away from the tournament with his third Masters win.
Scheffler has now finished within the top five in his last five Masters appearances. Nothing to hang his head about going forward. And even though it was McIlroy’s day this Masters, Scheffler has shown that he isn’t going anywhere as far as contending for his next green jacket.
“Yeah, Rory won the last two Masters and I clipped some majors last year,” he said. “So yeah, I mean, I think the major championships bring out the best in me sometimes, and I had some good starts last year and I obviously had a good week this week. There’s a few shots I’d like to have back, but overall put up a good fight.”
