OWINGS MILLS, Md. (AP) — The numbers Scottie Scheffler is compiling have been drawing comparisons with Tiger Woods. The world’s No. 1 player had a Tiger-like moment with the trophy on the line and a club in his hand Sunday in the BMW Championship.
His 82-foot chip on the 17th — the hardest hole in the final round at Caves Valley — landed about 60 feet short and rolled the rest of the way, picking up speed, losing speed dropping on the final turn. The birdie all but wrapped up another win, his fifth PGA Tour title this year.
It was reminiscent of Woods delivering magic to overshadow his sublime skill, his chip-in from behind the 16th green at the Memorial, his chip-in for eagle in the World Cup in Japan.
Scheffler already had erased a four-shot deficit against hard-luck Robert MacIntyre in five holes. He was clinging to a one-shot lead on the 17th, a daunting par 3 with a back right pin and water right.
Scheffler was in the left rough, the safe spot, facing a shot that a dozen players had chipped over the green.
“I knew it was just going to be really fast, and do my best to get it down there and give myself a good look for par,” he said. “When it came out, it came out how we wanted to and then it started breaking and it started looking better and better.
“And yeah, it was definitely nice to see that one go in.”
Scheffler closed with a 3-under 67 for a two-shot victory and became the first player since Woods — there’s that name again — in 2006 and 2007 to win at least five times on the PGA Tour in consecutive years.
MacIntyre didn’t make a birdie until the 16th hole but stayed in the game after losing his big lead, mostly when Scheffler began missing short putts.
MacIntyre pulled within one shot of the lead going to the 17th when Scheffler worked his magic and had to settle for another runner-up finish to a memorable shot, just like he did at Oakmont when J.J. Spaun holed a 65-foot birdie putt to clinch the U.S. Open.
MacIntyre was in the scoring room when he watched Spaun and applauded it. He was alongside Scheffler at the BMW Championship, staring in disbelief but angry at his poor play off the tee that cost him the big lead early.
“When he’s pitched that in on 17 and then he’s hit the perfect tee shot on 18, it’s pretty much game over just then. You’re playing for second place at that point,” MacIntyre said.
“He’s the better player on the day. I’m just really pissed off right now,” he said. “Right now I want go and smash up my golf clubs, to be honest with you.”
MacIntyre made 18 birdies in the first 45 holes of the tournament and only two over the last 27 holes. He closed with a 73 and got some consolation prizes that didn’t mean much in the moment. He cracked the top 10 in the world for the first time, going to No. 8.
Scheffler’s chip-in elicited the loudest cheer of the day. The most satisfying shot came on the 15th, when his lead was down to one shot after a three-putt. MacIntyre from the fairway hit into 7 feet. Scheffler was in a deep bunker and hit 8-iron to 6 feet.
MacIntyre missed. Scheffler made.
“That was a really important shot in the tournament, one that I think will fly a little bit under the radar,” he said.
The season is not over for Scheffler, who leads the 30 players who advanced to the Tour Championship at East Lake with a chance to become the first repeat FedEx Cup champion since the series began in 2007.
All 30 players at East Lake can win the $10 million first-place check. The field includes Harry Hall, the only player who played his way into the top 30 on Sunday, and even that was tense. Hall made bogey on the par-5 16th — the easiest hole on the course — and then went long and left at the 17th. He also chipped in for birdie and was safe going up the 18th.
Rickie Fowler was on the verge of getting back to East Lake only to twice miss the green from the fairway on the back nine, leading to bogey on the 14th and double bogey on the 15th, and knocked him out of the top 30.
Fowler finished with a 5-foot par putt — had he missed, Michael Kim would have been in the Tour Championship. Instead, the 30th spot went to Akshay Bhatia, despite making four bogeys on the back nine and feeling as though he had blown it.
MacIntyre squandered a big chance, too.
He showed plenty of grit on Saturday playing in the final group with Scheffler. But on the opening hole, Scheffler drilled his drive down the middle and hit to 6 feet for birdie, while MacIntyre missed the fairway and a 6-foot par putt. It was an early statement.
MacIntyre missed another fairway at the second and made bogey. He went from the fairway to a bunker on the short par-4 fifth, a two-shot swing when the Scotsman failed to get up-and-down for par and Scheffler made birdie.
And then Scheffler took the lead with a wedge to 6 feet for birdie on No. 7.
It looked like it would be a runaway at that point as Scheffler never seemed to miss — except when he had a chance to extend the lead. He missed birdie chances of 5 feet at No. 8 and 8 feet at No. 10. He botched a simple up-and-down at the 12th and three-putted from 18 feet on the 14th. Each chance kept MacIntyre in the hunt.
And then came one chip on the 17th, a knockout punch.
Scheffler, who finished at 15-under 265, has 18 career titles in the last three years and six months since his first PGA Tour title in Phoenix.
Comments