Weekly Fantasy Golf Recap: Chipping to a Championship

Scottie Scheffler swung from the greenside rough, 82 feet from the hole on the par-3 17th at Caves Valley. His ball lofted into the air.

It touched down on the green and began to roll, slowly, then even slower, almost as if suspended in time. It appeared to be right on target, and you could hear the reaction from the gallery start to build, but it was running out of steam.

And then, with maybe only one more revolution left in its power, having been traveling for an eternal 14 seconds, the ball tumbled into the cup.

Scheffler raised his wedge and high-fived his caddie. The gallery roared. Playing partner Robert MacIntyre looked on in disbelief. NBC's Terry Gannon shrieked: "CAN YOU BELIEVE WHAT WE JUST SAW?!"

It will go down as one of the signature shots of Scheffler's career, a birdie that gave him a two-stroke lead and, one hole later, victory in the BMW Championship.

"I knew it was an important shot in the golf tournament," Scheffler said. "Bob made a nice birdie there on 16, and I knew it was going to be a battle all the way until the end."

The miracle shot completed a comeback we rarely see from Scheffler. He wins all the time, of course, but rarely is he in a dogfight. His four previous wins in 2025 were by four, four, five and eight shots. When he and MacIntyre went to No. 17, the world No. 1 was nursing a one-stroke lead. He misfired with his tee ball, but at least it went left instead of right and toward the water.

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"I missed it on the correct side," he said. "I think that's the most important. It was a chip we practiced. I knew how fast it was, and basically it was just trying to get it on the green … give myself a good look for par. When it came out, it came out how we wanted to and then it started breaking and it started looking better and better, and yeah, it was definitely nice to see that one go in."

It seemingly took forever. The ball took 14 seconds to cover the 82 feet from club to cup. It went about half of that in the first two seconds after the initial strike. The ball didn't stop on the doorstep of the hole, a la Tiger Woods on No. 16 at Augusta, but almost.

The chain of events completed one of the toughest victories of Scheffler's career. He began the day trailing MacIntyre by four strokes. But he birdied No. 1 while MacIntyre bogeyed and, by No. 4, they were even. They stayed nip and tuck the rest of the way, coming to 17.

But even after the miracle shot and everyone going wild all around him, Scheffler kept his focus.

"When that chip goes in, you know it's a pretty cool shot, but the job is not nearly finished after that," he said. "Bob could just as easily chip his in [he didn't, he parred], and you don't know what's going to happen. So you've got to stay focused and did a good job hitting the fairway and the green there on 18 and gave myself a pretty stress-free par."

Scheffler thus heads to this week's TOUR Championship as the top seed. MacIntyre, bidding to win in successive seasons, moved up to No. 9. He also was runner-up at the U.S. Open. The Scotsman was trying to become the second wire-to-wire winner on Tour this season, joining -- who else? -- Scheffler, who did it at the Byron Nelson.

"When he's pitched that in on 17 and then he's hit the perfect tee shot on 18, it's pretty much game over just then," MacIntyre said, succinctly. "You're playing for second place at that point."

Yes, that's a pretty standard routine when Scheffler is in the field. MacIntyre played better than most in that situation, only to fall victim to what will go down as one of the most memorable shots of Scheffler's career.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Maverick McNealy
McNealy finished solo third for this seventh top-10 of the season. He's heading to his first TOUR Championship.

Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood tied for fourth in another great week. It was his sixth top-5 of the season, and only Scheffler, with 10, has more. And now we have to say what we always say: It was Fleetwood's 44th top-10, the most of any player without a win since 1983.

Sam Burns
Burns also tied for fourth, his first top-10 in two months. Whether it came too late to resuscitate his Ryder Cup bid, we'll know in a week.

Cameron Young
Young finished solo 11th and you have to think he has locked up one of those six Bradley captain's picks.

Rory McIlroy
Back after a week off, McIlroy was a non-factor in tying for 12th. But that was enough to stay second in points behind Scheffler heading to East Lake.

Xander Schauffele
Schauffele will miss the TOUR Championship for the first time. He tied for 28th at the BMW, leaving him 42nd in points. After missing almost the entire first two months of the season with a side injury, Schauffele never fully got going. He had only three top-10s all season, though two were in majors at the Masters and The Open.

Daniel Berger
Berger withdrew before the start of his fourth round with an undisclosed injury.

TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

Only one golfer moved into the top 30 to reach East Lake. It was Harry Hall, continuing an incredible season by knocking out Lucas Glover. The Englishman finished solo sixth, giving him a 10th top-25 in his last 11 starts. Really, he deserves serious consideration for the European Ryder Cup team.

For the 45-year-old Glover, it was a bitter end to a great bounceback season after he missed the playoffs entirely last year. He finished way back at Caves Valley in a tie for 40th.

It also was a bitter finish for Rickie Fowler, who was trending toward East Lake all weekend until imploding on the back nine on Sunday. He bogeyed 12 and 14, then doubled 15, and that was that. He was playing so well that that disastrous stretch knocked him back only into a tie for seventh, but that was enough to miss out. He wound up 32nd in points.

The hard-luck Mr. 31 was Michael Kim. It was by far his best season on Tour, but a bogey on No. 17 -- where Scheffler shined -- did him in. Kim had a 67-foot chip not far where Scheffler hit from, but he overcooked it and couldn't make a 14-footer coming back for par. Kim finished solo 10th.

"Yeah, I never been this close to a TOUR Championship in my entire career," Kim said. "Felt like a small back injury kind of hurt me in the middle of the year. Overall, it was a great season."

Unheralded Jacob Bridgeman tied for 19th at the BMW to hold onto the 27th spot in the standings, perhaps the most unheralded player heading to East Lake this year.

RYDER CUP

The BMW signaled the end of the automatic qualifying period for the U.S. team. Russell Henley (T15), Harris English (T12) and Bryson DeChambeau got the three automatic selections still not decided, joining Scheffler, Schauffele and J.J. Spaun. The day after the TOUR Championship, U.S. captain Keegan Bradley will name his six captain's picks. He still could pick himself, after closing with a 3-under 67 to tie for 17th at the BMW.

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