It was fitting that Scottie Scheffler marked his final tournament appearance of 2024 by winning the Hero World Challenge by a considerable margin to secure his ninth victory of the year.
It already feels easy to forget that Scottie Scheffler went into the final round of the Hero World Challenge one shot off the lead. He ended up posting a 63 on Sunday to win by six in the Bahamas.
Of course, Scheffler’s year is not going to be defined by his performance at Albany. But it certainly did provide another layer of icing on what looks to be a pretty phenomenal cake in 2024. Scheffler won his second major title at the Masters, while he also retained his Player Championship crown.
He won four signature events, the Tour Championship and an Olympic gold medal. Few will forget how Scheffler put together an unbelievable back nine to fly up the leaderboard at Le Golf National.
The ‘most astounding’ performance of Scottie Scheffler’s 2024
But perhaps one performance was even more impressive. Speaking on Golf Today, Ryan Lavner suggested that Scheffler managing to finish in the top 10 at the second major of the year despite being arrested during the week was a standout display.
“The greatest golf that Scottie Scheffler played was the back nine 29 to win the Olympic gold medal. I think the most astounding performance was what he did at the PGA Championship, a tournament in which he didn’t even win, but still finished in the top 10 despite beginning the day of his second round in a holding cell in Louisville,” he said.
“I think what’s going to be remembered about Scottie Scheffler’s 2024 is just his mind-numbing consistency. We’ve seen now the best, consistent season since Tiger Woods‘ prime. And then as Rex addressed, he’s sort of systematically addressing one of the few weaknesses he even has. And so, the Hero World Challenge, I think, was a fitting reminder of his ball-striking excellence.
“And this should have served as a warning shot to everybody. I know it’s a small sample size, I know it’s a one-week sample size, but this certainly looks like the undisputed, best player in the world just got even better, look out for 2025.”
How Scheffler fared at the PGA Championship
Scheffler opened his PGA Championship with a 67, and it seemed that he was well poised to make a charge over the next three days. But then he was arrested outside Valhalla as he arrived to get ready for his second round.
Scheffler was just about able to make his tee time, and somehow went on to shoot a 66 on Friday to move himself into the top 10 in Kentucky.
It seemed that the emotional toll of the incident caught up with him on Saturday, particularly with Ted Scott not on his bag for that one round. Scheffler fell out of contention as he shot 73 in the third round.
Bryson DeChambeau was the only player in the top 10 to post a lower round than Scheffler’s 65 on Sunday to ensure that he finished tied for eighth.
Perhaps the eight-shot deficit for Xander Schauffele would have been too great for the world number one to make up anyway, but many will always wonder what Scheffler may have done had none of the drama of Friday morning actually taken place.
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