Even when there was doubt, PGA champ Scottie Scheffler had none

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Scottie Scheffler walked to the 10th tee at Quail Hollow Club on Sunday with his 2025 PGA Championship lead fully evaporated. A string of wayward tee shots left plus a three-under start from Jon Rahm meant Scheffler entered the back nine tied with the Spaniard.

Scheffler, who took control of the tournament with a superhuman flurry on Saturday, had quickly lost control of the wheel and appeared to be flirting with a devastating major championship collapse.

But even when there was doubt hanging in the thick North Carolina air, Scottie Scheffler had none.

“Kind of what I reminded myself at the turn is — I had a bite to eat and I told myself, if I keep making good swings, I’m not going to continue to hit the ball left every time, statistically speaking,” Scheffler said. “I knew I needed nine really good holes.”

After caddie Ted Scott told him to aim a little more right, Scheffler squared his shoulders and striped his tee shot on No. 10. A birdie followed, and Scheffler had the lead by one.

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Brains are a funny thing. They can overwhelm you with anxiety and emotion. Make you feel like you’re six inches big or 10 feet tall. They can envelope you in doubt. Years later, they can also help you better understand that doubt. Before his Sunday round at his 2022 Masters win, Scheffler told reporters that he broke down in his wife Meredith’s arms that morning.

“I don’t think I’m ready for this,” Scheffler recalled telling her.

Three years later, Scheffler, who has been the No. 1 player in the world for 116 consecutive weeks, remembers the feelings differently now. Or perhaps, he can just better explain the emotions the further removed he gets.

“I don’t know if self-doubt is the right description,” Scheffler said on Sunday, explaining that he was overwhelmed by how much their lives had changed in such a short span of time in 2022 and he didn’t know if they were ready for that.

“Sometimes I wish I didn’t care as much as I did — or as I do,” Scheffler said. “It would be a lot easier if I could show up and be like, eh, win or lose, I’m still going to go home and do whatever. Sometimes I feel that way. But at the end of the day, this means a lot to me.”

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Another of the brain’s many wonders is its ability to attach memories to sounds, sights, smells and touch. To become trigger points for recall. Echoic memory, iconic memory, etc. To take a sensory moment and use it to burn a memory into your subconscious.

As the sun continued to bake a major championship Sunday in Charlotte, Scheffler stood on the par-5 15th tee locked in his process. He had re-gripped the steering wheel. A birdie at 10 and a perfect tee shot at the par-4 11th had stabilized him. Another birdie on the short par-4 14th gave him a two-shot lead over Rahm, who was coming down the 16th fairway on the other side of the pond from where Scheffler stood.

The Lakeside Club, which had been bumping music all week, even when players were near, was quiet as the tension filled the air. But music still fluttered out of the buildout, which will be quickly torn down come Monday. It was faint but there. It didn’t disturb Scheffler’s process, but some 50 yards away, I stood and pulled out my phone as the lyrics quietly drifted onto the course.

Once upon a younger year, when all our shadows disappeared
The animals inside came out to play, went face to face with all our fears
Learned our lessons through the tears, made memories we knew would never fade
One day, my father, he told me, ‘Son, don’t let it slip away

“Nights by Avicii,” the app on my phone read.

Unaware of the soundtrack to his closing stretch, Scheffler blistered a driver down the middle of the fairway and took off. He glanced across the lake and saw Rahm in the bunker on the par-4 16th. After seeing a leaderboard on No. 13, Scheffler knew the best Rahm could be after that hole was nine under and two back of him. He turned his gaze back to the destination of his tee ball at No. 15. Seconds later, Rahm missed his par putt, and groans from the fans on 16 rippled through the air toward Scheffler.

Son, don’t let it slip away.

Minutes later, Scheffler birdied 15, and his lead was three. A few minutes later, it was six, and the tournament, which went from over to a dog fight in less than an hour, was ready for a coronation. A celebration for a golfer whose greatness lies in his process, his belief and his endless journey to conquer the unconquerable.

“I love the pursuit of trying to figure something out,” Scheffler said. “That’s what I love about this game. I feel like you’re always battling yourself, and you’re always trying to figure things out. And you’re never going to perfect it. I can be kind of a crazy person sometimes when it comes to putting my mind to something.

“In golf, there’s always something you can figure out, there’s always something you can do better.”

Scheffler arrived at Quail Hollow’s Green Mile with his only blemish on the three-hole stretch being a mudball-induced double bogey in Round 1.

He parred 16, found land and made par at 17 and avoided trouble off the tee on 18. When his third shot landed on the green, he put his arm around Scott and they marched toward their shared vision as the amphitheater surrounding 18 serenaded them. When his final putt hit the bottom of the cup, Scheffler, the newest PGA Championship winner, hugged Scott before spiking his hat onto the green.

“F–k, yeah!” he yelled. “That’s what I’m talking about.”

Scheffler embraced Meredith and their son Bennett and then turned to his father, Scott.

“Words can’t describe what we just watched,” the elder Scheffler said. “You are the toughest guy, and the sweetest boy. I’m so proud of you. Thank you for never giving up, Scottie.”

As Scheffler signed his card, his long-time coach Randy Smith held court and explained a day that ran the emotional gamut for Team Scheffler.

“Relief,” Smith said of Scheffler’s emotional reaction to his final putt. “You were in kind of a dog fight out there all of a sudden. Then, deep breath. Do this, do that. There’s a lot of mental errors that went into that 18 holes of golf and that was the release of it.”

As for what adjustments Scheffler made down the stretch?

“Play better,” Smith said. “Can’t be hitting shots like that. Hang in there. Just look down and says it’s time to man up here and make a play. … You always know who on a team wants the ball with one second left. That’s the way he is.”

Scheffler exited scoring with Bennett on his hip and headed toward the Wanamaker Trophy ceremony with those words still hanging in the air from an hour prior, when everything changed, from the defining three-minute stretch that will be seared into Scheffler’s still-growing legend and my echoic memory.

A blistered drive, a purposeful walk, a glance and a chorus of groans that pushed him toward history.

Son, don’t let it slip away.

Scottie Scheffler didn’t. He was never going to.