AUGUSTA, Ga. — Sports betting comes with inherent risks, but then again, there's more risk you can take with your money than betting for sure that Scottie Scheffler will win the Masters in 51 weeks. It can be expensive.
Hey, he'll bet on the next 10 years.
Scheffler, who boasted overwhelming strength, shot a 68 to finish at 11 under and win his second green jacket on Sunday as the players around him jumped through the back nine. Ludwig Oberg finished in second place, four strokes behind. Scheffler outscored the other players by more than seven points.
The tournament was effectively deadlocked when Scheffler birdied the 14th. Or maybe it was even before that. The man had six birdies in a nine-hole stretch on Sunday.
It may be foolish, or even ridiculously premature, to think that a current two-time Masters champion could one day challenge Jack Nicklaus' record of six wins. But if not the game, no player may have had the perfect mentality to conquer Augusta National.
This place is famous for its legendary final round pressure. But Scheffler, 27, wanders around here, staring at his feet, oblivious, as if he were simply strolling through the countryside.
The more intense it got, the calmer he seemed. He bombed the drive (305.7). He made fewer putts (average 1.5 per hole). He was the typical master of efficiency here, scoring at par or better on 87.5% of his 72 holes. He has finished par or better in 18 of his 20 career rounds at Augusta.
In 2022, he won his first Masters in a similar fashion, going nearly unbeatable all the way to the final round as Cam Smith waned. In the end, Scheffler won by three strokes.
The Masters isn't really about golf. There are dozens of players who are good enough at golf to win. It's everything that happens during golf that separates the champions from the winners.
“I feel more in control of my emotions than ever before, and that's a good thing,” Scheffler said. “I feel like I grow as a person on the golf course. It's a great place to be.”
The man is unfazed, indifferent and perhaps unaware.
“I was very focused there,” he said.
As if perhaps winning the Masters wasn't enough to upset him, Scheffler also revealed that his wife, Meredith, is back in Texas and expecting the couple's first child any day now. I knew. He vowed to withdraw from the tournament if necessary. A private jet was on standby in preparation for the birth.
Scheffler didn't seem to be affected. Scheffler doesn't seem to be affected.
“This just goes to show how much headspace I had,” Scheffler said. “I wasn't really thinking about it that much. I was just trying my best to stay in the moment and stay calm and take the shot.”
This week marks his 48th consecutive World No. 1 ranking. He hasn't had an above-par round since last November, which is a whopping 40 in a row (Tiger Woods holds the PGA Tour record of 52, set in 2000-2001). ing).
Scheffler was the one who showed consistency this week. Only 9 bogeys and 1 double. He hit 79 percent of the fairways and 64 percent of the greens within regulation. He three-putted just twice. This is all in line with his average Masters performance over five years.
Even with fatherhood on the horizon, there's no reason to think anything will change.
“I'm going to keep my head down and keep working,” Scheffler said.
Only Horton Smith, who won two of the first three Masters (1934, 1936), won consecutive titles faster than Scheffler's five starts.
Regarding age, Nicklaus won his third championship at the age of 26. The same goes for Tiger Woods, who has five green jackets. In that respect, Schaeffler is behind schedule. However, please wait about a year. This man does not seem prone to great fluctuations in his fortunes.
Additionally, with all due respect to the rest of the golf world, the competition right now is not that strong.
The split between the PGA and LIV seems to have divided the sport and distracted players at the same time. Scheffler on Sunday dismissed a player with six PGA Tour wins (Max Homa) and a player with just one (Aberg, a 24-year-old with a lot of potential).
Collin Morikawa faded out in the Amen corner. Bryson DeChambeau never worked out. Last year's Masters winner Jon Rahm finished with nine over. Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson didn't even play. It was the same for the current U.S. Open (Wyndham Clark) and British Open (Brian Harman) champions.
Although Scheffler's swing footwork is a golf coach's nightmare, he is so confident in his results that he has resisted change throughout his life. He admits that he hates losing even more than winning, which is what drives him to develop not only physical skills, but also mental and emotional skills.
A boring piece. Boredom is the price. Especially in Augusta.
