Scottie Scheffler continued his dominant run of play with a win at the 2022 Masters.- Scheffler held a three-stroke lead heading into the final round, and held off Cameron Smith in the final pairing.
Scottie Scheffler proved to the world why he's the No. 1 player in
Scheffler had done the majority of his work on Friday, putting up the low round of the day with a five-under 67 to take a five-stroke lead into Saturday. That lead was cut to three strokes heading into Sunday, with Australian Cameron Smith the only player that looked within striking distance of Scheffler to start the final round.
Over the opening holes of the round, it looked as though Scheffler might stumble. Smith opened birdie-birdie to cut Scheffler's lead to a single stroke.
At the par-4 No. 3, both Smith and Scheffler found trouble, chipping on to the green with their third shot.
Scheffler dunked his chip straight into the hole for birdie in what was up until that point the shot of the tournament.
—GOLF on CBS ⛳ (@GOLFonCBS) April 10, 2022
Smith could not match Scheffler's chip, and wound up bogeying the hole, putting Scheffler's lead back where it was to start the round.
Scheffler played smart golf through the rest of the day, making every shot he needed to in order to keep Smith from getting into striking distance once again.
The surprise challenge of the day came from Rory McIlroy, who after starting the day 10 strokes off the lead, roared to life with a stunning eight-under 64 to push himself into second place.
He capped off his round with a birdie out of the bunker on No. 18 to send the crowd into hysterics.
—GOLF on CBS ⛳ (@GOLFonCBS) April 10, 2022
As Rory made his run, Smith imploded with a triple-bogey on No. 12, leaving McIlroy as the clubhouse leader.
But by that point, Scheffler's run was already almost complete. With five holes to play, Scheffler knew he was several strokes clear of the field, and just needed to avoid a total collapse to put his arms through the green jacket.
Still, Scheffler didn't take his foot off the gas, planting a shot at No. 14 to push his lead to four.
—The Masters (@TheMasters) April 10, 2022
By the time Scheffler walked up to the 18th green, it was all over aside from signing the scorecards.
—The Masters (@TheMasters) April 10, 2022
As it turns out, Scheffler was lucky he gave himself such a cushion. On the 18th green, Scheffler pushed two short putts wide of the hole before finally tapping in for double-bogey.
—The Masters (@TheMasters) April 10, 2022
On another day, the slip-up could have meant a collapse unlike anything the sport had ever seen. Instead, Scheffler still won by three strokes.
Scheffler entered the Masters the hottest golfer on the planet, having already won three events in 2022 to push himself to the top spot in the World Golf Ranking.
Over the weekend at Augusta National, Scheffler proved himself worthy of the ranking once again, putting him on a hot streak the golf world hasn't seen since Tiger Woods was in his prime.