Heading into the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge, you would have had to have gone back to the RBC Heritage for the previous event in which Scottie Scheffler teed it up and failed to win.
Scottie Scheffler won both The CJ CUP Byron Nelson and the PGA Championship on his previous two starts. Scheffler was looking to become the first player since 2017 to win three tournaments in a row, at Colonial.
He got off to a decent start with an opening 68. However, a 71 on Friday meant that the world number one was actually not too far off missing the cut. It was also his first over par round since The Players Championship back in March.
Scheffler kept his hopes of yet another victory alive on Saturday, with a 64. At one stage, the 28-year-old was seven under par through 11 holes.
Ben Griffin comments on Scottie Scheffler after winning the Charles Schwab Challenge
Scheffler would start the final round six shots back of Ben Griffin. And, while Griffin was not always convincing in getting across the line, the gap between the two would only close by a couple of shots over Sunday.
The three-time major champion would have to settle for a tie for fourth. And it seems that that may have come as a surprise to Griffin himself.
Speaking on Dan on Golf, Griffin admitted that he expected a real charge from Scheffler in the final round.
“No, I was actually looking yesterday. I was playing really well yesterday and I remember at one point in the round, I saw I was maybe 13 and he was seven, and I was like, alright, Scottie’s probably shooting 10 under tomorrow. So I need to make sure I’m at least 17 under, so I need to keep the pedal down. I don’t know what he ended up shooting today,” he said.
“We’re living in a little bit of a Tiger era with Scottie. He’s so dominant, and you can never put anything past him. It can be the hardest holes in golf and he’s going to find a way to have a birdie look.
“I was fortunate not to see his name up there. I would not have been shocked for a moment if his name was at 12 or 13 under and I was chasing with a few holes to go.”
How Scottie Scheffler reacted to his performance at Colonial
Scheffler will surely not be too disappointed by his result. Ultimately, with The Memorial and the US Open to come, it was probably not a bad week for his A game to not quite be there.
Nevertheless, Scheffler was pleased with how he played over the final two rounds.
“I had a really good weekend. I did some good stuff. I feel like I could have scored a little better today. Overall it was a really challenging day,” he said.
“I think Friday probably hurt me in terms of winning this tournament, but overall three of the four days I played what I felt was pretty solid. Just had one off day, but outside of that, I did some good things this week as well.”
Interestingly, he lost eight shots to Griffin on Friday alone. He managed to close in over the following two rounds, but clearly, he left himself with too much to do.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
