Scottie Scheffler soaks it all in after becoming fourth youngest player to win two Masters

Scheffler pulled away from a four-way tie with 10 holes to play, when he stepped on the gas like a Formula 1 champion and his front-running mates devolved into a demolition derby.

Scheffler ran off consecutive birdies on 8, 9 and 10 while his challengers each made crippling doubles to give the 2022 Masters champion all the cushion he needed to secure a second green jacket.

Scheffler’s final-round 68 to finish 11-under was four better than brilliant debutante Ludvig Åberg of Sweden, who was nearly flawless except for a rookie mistake that cost him a chance to become the first since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 to win on debut.

“I would say the best momentum turner that I had today was the birdie putt on 8,” he said of the 10-footer he poured in to keep the pace for one of his seven birdies in the round.

“That kind of gave me some good momentum, and I used that to birdie 9 and 10 and keep pushing because I knew there was birdies out there on back nine. I had a lot of really talented players trying to chase me down, and I knew pars weren’t going to get it done.”

Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and Tommy Fleetwood tied third at 4-under and LIV mates Bryson DeChambeau and Cam Smith shared sixth at 2-under.

Scheffler, 27, is the fourth youngest player to win two Masters, behind Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros and Tiger Woods and the second with Tiger win it multiple times as world No. 1.

After winning Bay Hill, the Players and runner-up by a shot in Houston coming into Augusta, the odds-on favorite never strayed from being the player to beat all week.

He never let up on the back side and ended up enjoying a comfortable finish – one-putting the last for par this time instead of four-putting for double.

“I tried to soak in stuff around me today. I looked up at the trees at times. I looked up at the fans occasionally to try to soak in some of their energy,” he said.

“But did not ever let myself get attached to the lead. I just tried to keep pushing. I mean, I think if I would have played a little bit defensively it would have been a significantly different finish. … If I was just trying to make pars the whole back nine, I would have been standing on 18 having to make par and hoping Ludvig would only make a par.”

The top four leaders were lined up in one-shot increments in the last two pairings at the start of what was promising to be a brilliant Sunday that had the potential to outdo an epic Saturday that saw six players grab a share of the lead on the back nine.

Scheffler, Morikawa, Åberg and Homa were all tied at 6-under on the eighth hole – at three shots clear of everyone else already playing the back nine – which was playing harder than the front side for the first time since 1966.

That’s when things got really wild and the shootout turned into another coronation walk for Scheffler.

Scheffler and Morikawa both birdied the par-5 eighth at the same time Åberg rolled in a birdie on the ninth to each climb to 7-under. That’s when Scheffler – the only player already proven at Augusta with a green jacket hanging in the champions locker room – asserted his will that prompted the others to flinch … if not wilt.

Scheffler nearly holed out from the fairway on the par-4 ninth, barely missing the eagle but making bogey to reclaim the lead heading to the back side one up on Åberg and Homa, who birdied 10. The roar from his near hole-out seemed to turn up the pressure on the guys hoping to beat him.

Morikawa – the 2020 PGA and 2021 Open champion and the only one in the field to play each of the first three rounds under par – watched it and crashed out immediately with the first of two double bogeys in three holes, hitting into the left greenside bunker on 9 and failing to get out. He later plunked one in the pond on 11 to check out of contention.

“I got greedy,” was Morikawa’s self-assessment of his costly miscues.

“When you’re playing really good, you don’t get greedy, and I got greedy on 9. I got greedy on 11. I wasn’t pressing, I just was trying to hit it a little bit too close, and greed can get the best of us.” 

Åberg let veteran caddie Joey Skovron confirm a poor decision on the treacherous par-4 11th. Ben Hogan always said if his approach landed on 11 green, he missed his target, but from 216 yards Skovron convinced Åberg to sling a 5-iron draw to the water-side left pin. Åberg’s shot drew to much, hitting the bank and splashing in the water to lead to double.

“I've been playing that same shot all week where I basically aim just right of the right edge of the green and try to … draw it in there,” he said.

“I tried to do the same thing today, and it … started just a little bit too far left and the wind caught it and hit it in the water. It was probably one of the few swings this week where I really put it in a bad spot where I knew I couldn't miss left and I missed it left.”

The 24-year-old rebounded with birdies at 13 and 14, but the damage was done and Scheffler was on cruise control. Åberg shot rounds of 73-69-70-69 to assert himself as golf’s next great thing.

“Everyone in my position, they are going to want to be major champions. They are going to want to be world No. 1s, and it’s the same for me, and that’s nothing different,” Åberg said.

“It’s been that way ever since I picked up a golf club, and that hasn’t changed. So I think this week solidifies a lot of those things are there, and we just need to keep doing those things and put ourselves in positions to win tournaments.”

Homa was still 7-under heading to No. 12, but his 9-iron off the tee floated long and left into some groundcover, and he made double after taking an unplayable.

“I hit a really good golf shot, and it didn’t feel fair,” he said. “I’ve seen far worse just roll back down the hill. Yeah, the professional answer is these things happen.”