Behind 9 birdies, 0 bogeys and a new putting grip, Scottie Scheffler wins Hero

Scottie Scheffler wins. Copy and paste. Rinse and repeat. Should you have been in a holiday rush, missed the broadcast and were wondering what went down, know that it was a bit of a repeat. This year’s winner of the Arnold Palmer Championship, the Players Championship, the Masters, the RBC Heritage, the Memorial, the Travelers, the Olympics and the Tour Championship — exhales — is the winner of the Hero World Championship. 

It was a show, too, during Sunday’s final round at Albany Golf Course. There was a little of everything. You like precision? Scheffler was precise. He hit 17 of 18 greens. You like creativity? Scheffler was creative. A low-flighted stinger on the par-5 9th dodged trouble, leading to birdie. You like inventiveness? Scheffler was inventive. His newly employed claw putting grip will likely stick around. 

There was a rally, too. Scheffler started the final round a shot back of leader Justin Thomas, but three holes and two birdies later, he was the leader for good. From there, he tacked on birdies at 4, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16 and 18 — that’s nine birdies in all, with zero bogeys — shot a 63 and finished at 25-under overall, six shots ahead of runner-up Tom Kim. 

But here’s the thing: Go back to that first paragraph. You kinda expected Scheffler to win, right? Look at that 2024 CV. It was also much of the same in 2022 and 2023. 

And that, Thomas said earlier in the week, is what makes him undeniably great, maybe more so than any other attribute. In April, at the RBC Heritage, he offered a similar opinion. Eight months later, nothing has changed. 

“I think it’s very under — just underrated how well he’s playing for expecting to play that well,” Thomas said. “I don’t think people understand how difficult it is to win when you’re expected to win or when every single person that’s there expects you to play well and you expect you to play well and then to still play well. I think expectations are something — it’s very, very hard to manage. It truly is just as much of a talent as being able to, you know, control your distance with your wedges or flight a driver or hit it far, whatever it is, is being able to stay present, stay in the moment. 

“I think — when I think of the guys that are the best at that, I think of Scottie and Xander [Schauffele], they’re two of the best when you play with them, they stay present and stay in the moment no matter how the day is going. I think that’s — it’s very hard to explain, but it’s so hard to do sometimes. It’s sometimes even harder when you’re playing that well because it’s easy to think like, well, if I keep playing like this, I’m going to win this tournament, I’m going to win the next tournament and the next one versus truly — I mean, Tiger [Woods] always talked about it, every shot’s the most important shot you’ve ever hit in your life, and after you hit that one, you go do it again and next thing you know, you’re like oh, I won again. That’s a hard thing to do. To me, that’s been the most impressive thing from Scottie.”

So yeah, another win for Scheffler.

But incredibly so. 

The takeaway 

Scheffler isn’t slowing down. Every tournament — every single tournament — is in play for him next year. 

The leaderboard breakdown 

— Justin Thomas starts the final round with a one-shot lead. Thomas is at 17-under, Scottie Scheffler is at 16-under, Tom Kim is at 15-under, and Keegan Bradley is at 13-under. 

— Scheffler birdies the 439-yard, par-4 1st to move into a share of the lead, but Thomas quickly answers with a birdie of his own. Thomas is at 18-under, Scheffler is at 17-under, and Kim is at 15-under. 

— Thomas bogeys the 177-yard, par-3 2nd after duffing a greenside chip shot, and Scheffler pars, and they are tied for the lead. Thomas and Scheffler are at 17-under, Kim is at 15-under, and Bradley is at 13-under. 

— Scheffler birdies the 561-yard, par-5 3rd after getting home in two, and he now leads by one. Scheffler is at 18-under, Thomas is at 17-under, and Kim is at 16-under.

— Scheffler birdies the 501-yard par-4 4th on a 49-foot putt, then Thomas matches with a birdie of his own, and Scheffler still leads by one. Scheffler is at 19-under, Thomas is at 18-under, and Kim is at 16-under. 

— Thomas bogeys the 167-yard, par-3 5th after missing the green on his tee shot, and Scheffler pars, and Scheffler now leads by two. Scheffler is at 19-under, Thomas is at 17-under, and Kim is at 16-under. 

— Scheffler birdies the 629-yard, par-5 9th after hitting his third shot to 4 feet, and he leads by two. Scheffler is at 20-under, Kim is at 18-under, and Thomas is at 17-under. 

— Scheffler birdies the 437-yard, par-4 10th on a 20-foot putt, and he leads by two. Scheffler is at 21-under, Kim is at 19-under, and Thomas is at 17-under. 

— Kim bogeys the 580-yard, par-5 11th after missing a 2-foot putt, and Scheffler’s lead is three. Scheffler is at 21-under, Kim is at 18-under, and Thomas is at 17-under.  

— Scheffler birdies the 507-yard, par-4 13th after hitting his second shot to 4 feet, and Scheffler’s lead is three. Scheffler is at 22-under, Kim is at 19-under, and Thomas is at 18-under. 

— Scheffler birdies the 302-yard, par-4 14th after driving the green, and Scheffler’s lead is four. Scheffler is at 23-under, and Kim and Thomas are at 19-under. 

— Scheffler birdies the 480-yard, par-4 16th after hitting his second shot, from the waste area, to 10 feet, and he leads by five. Scheffler is at 24-under, Thomas is at 19-under, and Kim is at 18-under. 

— Scheffler birdies the 478-yard, par-4 18th after hitting his second shot to 3 feet, and he finishes with a six-shot victory. The final leaderboard reads this way: Scheffler is at 25-under, Kim is at 19-under, and Thomas is at 18-under.

The final word

“Yeah, very satisfying,” Scheffler said on NBC after his victory. Not much more to say really.