Scottie Scheffler is the 2024 Masters champion, but he just fell short.
Scheffler won by four strokes and earned his second green jacket in three years.
Scheffler proved once again on Sunday why he is considered the best golfer on the planet. In the final round of the 88th Masters Tournament, he came close to holeout multiple times.
The once overlapping leaderboards were suddenly dominated by the world No. 1.
This is the Texas Longhorn’s second Green Jacket and he’s only 27 years old. Only Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Seve Ballesteros have won at least two Masters titles at a young age.
Scheffler started the day with a one-stroke lead over two-time major champion Collin Morikawa.
Morikawa approached the day with great confidence, going so far as to express his respect for Scheffler, saying that he was not afraid of him.
Max Homa is back two, Swedish phenom Ludwig Aberg is back three, and Bryson DeChambeau, who had a thrilling hole-out finish on Saturday, is four strokes off the pace.
Early on, it looked like a dog race for the title was about to begin.
Early in the round, four players were tied at 6 under. The fans went wild along with the audience.
Everything changed in a matter of minutes on the par-4 ninth hole.
Schaeffler achieved incredible results. approach shot I went over the hole and back down the hill. The ball stopped a few inches from the hole and he tapped it for birdie.
On the same hole, Morikawa missed a bunker shot and watched it rise up. He ends up making double bogey on that hole. He was the third striker in the final combination.
Two holes later, Morikawa went fishing on the 12th par-4, but was almost out of contention for the championship.
Meanwhile, the group ahead of us also began to collapse.
Aberg made the rookie mistake of chasing the flag on No. 11 and ended up falling left into the water.
On the next hole, the famous par-3 12th, Homa’s tee shot flew off the green. It was determined that the ball was unplayable because it was buried in the bushes.
He ends up hitting five double bogeys.
Meanwhile, Scheffler just kept doing his job. He had birdies on 8, 9 and 10 to build a three-stroke lead.
Aberg tried to keep things interesting until the end. But everyone at home knew in the back of his mind that this Masters Tournament was over.
Scheffler hit an incredible approach shot on the par-4 14th, but again missed the hole by inches.
He became the first player to reach double digits in the deficit and never looked back.
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The Ridgewood, N.J., native is now on a whole other level.
His past four starts include a win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a win at The Players, a runner-up finish at the Texas Children’s Houston Open and a win here at Augusta.
The last player to start a season that way was, of course, Tiger Woods in 2001.
The only question remaining is whether Scheffler will be wearing the green jacket when his first child is born in the coming weeks.
Kendall Capps is the senior editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social media platforms.
