Weekly Recap: It's the Scheffler Show

There's not much more to say after Scottie Scheffler's fourth win in two months than what was said after his third win in six weeks. Of course, that's oversimplifying things -- he just won the dang Masters, for crying out loud -- but what we saw at Augusta the past four days was exactly what we saw in his other wins:

Composure, calmness, steadiness, patience, staying in the moment, great teamwork with caddie Ted Scott. Oh, and some big drives, great iron play, a vastly underrated short game and a markedly improved putter.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from Scheffler's runaway victory -- future generations will be fooled by the final margin of only three strokes, and that it was over Rory McIlroy and not Cameron Smith -- is that this four-win heater has come on four vastly different golf courses in vastly different situations:

• The environment at the Waste Management Open was the exact opposite of Augusta on the raucous meter, and the win came on a West Coast track requiring birdies and necessitated him outlasting bulldog Patrick Cantlay in a playoff.
• His Arnold Palmer Invitational victory came in difficult weather conditions on what is annually one of the hardest tracks on Tour.
• His win at Austin Country Club was different simply because of the match play format.
• The Masters requires every club in the bag and, as a major, comes with pressure seen nowhere else in golf.

While it never felt that Scheffler was in serious trouble at any point on Sunday, the tournament turned on two strokes.

The first was Scheffler's chip-in on No. 3 -- he called it "off the charts" -- that came after Smith birdied Nos. 1 and 2 to cut his deficit to one stroke. Scheffler's birdie and Smith's bogey moments later ballooned the lead back to three.

The second was Smith's soul-crushing tee shot into Rae's Creek at No. 12 that came right after he birdied 11 to offer renewed hope. Scheffler parred 12, Smith tripled it and, as happens so many years at Augusta National, this was where the tournament was decided.

The comparisons to Tiger Woods began for Scheffler after he won the Match Play event last month. Now they will only increase. Of course, Scheffler has won four tournaments spanning eight weeks and Woods has been Woods for more than a quarter of a century, but that's the way the media and public discourse work these days.

It's not only unfair to Scheffler, it's impossible to calibrate. But the easy answer is that, no, Scheffler will not be Tiger. But there are a lot of good, even historic places to be without ever reaching Woods' level.

Only two golfers have ever won four times in a season in which one of the wins was a major and another was a WGC: Scheffler and Woods. The thing is, Woods has done it eight times.

Continuing …

Scheffler has won four times this season, including a major. Since 2010, four other golfers have accomplished that: Justin Thomas in 2016-17; Jason Day and Jordan Spieth in 2014-15 and Rory McIlroy in 2012. None of them was able to sustain that, none is No. 1 right now and one of them, Day, has pretty much faded from relevance.

Of course, there's a long way to go in the 2021-22 season, including three more majors. The last golfer to win four tournaments in a season through the Masters, again according to PGA Tour Communications on Twitter, was David Duval. One of Duval's wins was not a major and he flamed out quickly soon after.

We don't know when we'll see Scheffler again, but he surely will be at Southern Hills for the PGA Championship. Would it surprise anyone if, say, Jon Rahm or Collin Morikawa won to reassert their alpha-ness and regain the top spot in the world from Scheffler? No. Would it change your mind if we told you that Scheffler has won at Southern Hills -- the 2015 Big 12 Championship while at Texas? Hmmm.

For now, Scheffler is the clear No. 1 in the world and will remain there at least until Southern Hills. If he wins there, well, where's the emoji for "head explodes"?

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Tiger Woods
It would've been very easy, if not appropriate, to lead this recap with Woods. That's how monumental his Masters was. But it also went fairly close to expectations: make the cut and fade on the weekend when walking the grueling 18 holes of Augusta National a third and fourth time takes its cumulative toll. Woods finished solo 47th, but not many people will remember that. What they will remember will be the vision of a gallant, 46-year-old Woods walking/hobbling for four days and still hitting great golf shot after great golf shot. This performance will not signify the return of Woods with any frequency. This may have been a one-time, only-because-it-was-the-Masters situation for now. It's possible we'll see Woods next month at Southern Hills, where he won the PGA in August 2007. Tulsa can be a brute in August but maybe not in May. Then there's the U.S. Open at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass., in June.  That's also up in the air. But what is a certainty is the 150th Open Championship in July at St. Andrews, where Woods has won, can walk much more easily and will be three months further along in his recovery.

Rory McIlroy
McIlroy wound up second thanks to Smith's late fade but more to his sterling 64 that tied the lowest Sunday round in Masters history. It was the only bogey-free round of the entire tournament. It's not easy to know what to make of this round. It's never easy with McIlroy. Would he have shot 64 if he were in the final pairing with Scheffler instead of starting the day in seventh place and 10 shots back? What it does tell us is that McIlroy is still good enough to win more majors, though he will have to wait another year to try to complete the career grand slam at Augusta.

Cameron Smith
Smith birdied Nos. 1 and 2 and his Sunday started as good as it possibly could have. But Scheffler steadied and then Smith hit that fatal water ball into Rae's Creek. He wound up tied for third. Smith actually had more birdies than Scheffler, 22 to 21, but he also made more mistakes. And mistakes are always the difference at Augusta. Smith has now finished second, third, fifth and 10th in his Masters career. He clearly can win it. He'll know next year that he will need to be better off the tee and just a little more conservative.

Shane Lowry
Lowry continued a great season that is being dwarfed by all the multiple winners on Tour so far -- Scheffler, Smith and Hideki Matsuyama. His tie for third gave him his best Masters finish and a seventh top-15 in his past eight stroke-play starts. We said at the beginning of the week that Lowry is not only good enough to contend but to win. Southern Hills and The Country Club will be harder tasks, but Lowry might be up to them. He hasn't won since the 2019 Open Championship but he's playing better now.

Collin Morikawa
Morikawa never contended but wound up solo fifth, his best Masters finish by far, boding well for a Green Jacket in his future. Southern Hills and The Country Club seem better fits for his next major, but it's clear Morikawa can win just about anywhere. He overtook Rahm for No. 2 in the world and interestingly will play this coming week at the RBC Heritage.

Will Zalatoris
Two Masters – runner-up in 2021 and now T6 in 2022. It's clear that if you do everything great/very good except putt you can still thrive at the Masters. If Zalatoris doesn't offer enough evidence for you then maybe this next guy will.
 
Corey Conners
Conners also tied for sixth, his third straight top-10. Clearly, he can play this track (are you allowed to call Augusta a "track"?). Conners has been playing a ton of golf – he made it all the way to the end of the Match Play, played four rounds at the Valero, then the Masters – and right now he's in the field at this week's RBC Heritage. Corey, Sungjae Im says to take a week off. You'll still be good when you get back, maybe better.

Justin Thomas
Thomas' very good but not great season continued with a tie for eighth. It was only his second top-10 at the Masters. His best chances to bag a second major will come with the PGA and U.S. Open, but right now it doesn't appear Thomas' game is complete enough to win one of them. Every week, something is off.

Sungjae Im
At a golf course where conservative play is rewarded, Im is a great fit. He finished runner-up in 2020 but now with a tie for eighth he showed he can excel at Augusta in April, too.

Charl Schwartzel
Schwartzel was in field only because he was the 2011 champion. "Only" really isn't fair, but the point is that Schwartzel arrived zero for six in made cuts in 2022. He was 171st in the world. But he was in the final group on Saturday and wound up tied for 10th, proving that if you know how to play Augusta it doesn't matter what your current form is. The same can be said for this next guy.

Cameron Champ
Champ tied for 10th, adding to his T19 and T26 in two previous Masters. He got in because he won the 3M Open. He hadn't had so much as a top-25 in 10 subsequent tournaments but he clearly knows his way around Augusta. And this finish ensures a return visit. Just don't expect Champ to suddenly play better in other tournaments.

Lee Westwood
Westwood tied for 14th in his 21st Masters. Now 57th in the world after ending last year in the top-50, Westwood needs to find a way to get back or this could have been his final Masters.

Justin Rose
Rose, who has finished second twice, missed the cut and, like Westwood, will need to get back in the top-50 or find some other way to get back to Augusta. A high finish at a major seems his best route. Easier said than done.

Jordan Spieth
We saw that golfers who were playing terribly but who know Augusta, Schwartzel and Cameron Champ, turn in top-10s. Spieth stunningly missed the cut for the first time in his nine Masters. He has not been playing well this season and this just affirms it. Spieth is down to 20th in the world.

Brooks Koepka
Koepka had not been having a great season but this was a major. Well, he has now missed the weekend two years running at Augusta. Expect much better results at the PGA and U.S. Open.
 
Xander Schauffele
This was another stunner of a missed cut. Schauffele has not been at his usual level this season and has now fallen from the top-10 for the first time since 2020. And of course he's still winless for more than three years.

Bryson DeChambeau
DeChambeau may or may not be hurt, and he may or may not be rusty. But a missed cut at the Masters gave him three lousy outings in a row since returning from a two-month injury absence. It's impossible to know when DeChambeau will return to form. Perhaps he came back too soon.

Matthew Wolff
The most important thing for Wolff is his mental health. But since we talk golf, we need to note that 2022 has not been kind to him, with another missed cut at the Masters. He has four missed cuts in seven PGA Tour starts this year, and the other three results were in the 60s. Wolff is about to tumble out of the top-50 in the world, he's 49th, but let's hope he's in a good place off the course.