Weekly Recap: Scottie Does Know

There are so many things to unpack from an absolutely wild week at the WM Phoenix Open it's hard to know where to begin. When in doubt, start with the winner.

Scottie Scheffler has forever relinquished the title of 'Best Golfer Without A Victory' by virtue of a thrilling playoff win over Patrick Cantlay on Sunday at TPC Scottsdale. As the CBS broadcast bled into the start of the Super Bowl, Scheffler's 25-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole put one final exclamation point on a tournament so overloaded with punctuations that any editor worth their salt would revolt.

The Greatest Show on Grass was back this year at full capacity -- and lunacy -- after a pandemic-muted 2021 tournament. Sam Ryder's hole-in-one on Saturday, the first at the raucous 16th hole in seven years, sent the roughly 20,000 fans in the stands there into a beer-throwing frenzy. When Carlos Ortiz matched Ryder with an ace the very next day, that really sent the Stadium Course into celebratory overdrive. And then, when Harry Higgs and Joel Dahmen ripped off their shirts to show their bare, pale golfer bodies and the fans lost their collective minds, well, the Phoenix Tour stop reached new heights -- or lows, depending on your viewpoint of Higgs' and Dahmen's bodies. 

While the fans exploded at all those moments, they also fell in love with and cheered for young Sahith Theegala, who led for most of the tournament but simply couldn't hang on after getting a bad break and finding the water on 17. More on him in a minute.

The 25-year-old Scheffler -- the 2019 Korn Ferry Player of the Year and the 2020 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year -- had come close to winning numerous times in his brief 70-event career on Tour entering the week. For instance, he was third at The Amex in 2020, then second at the Match Play and third at the Memorial in 2021. He already has four top-10s and six top-25s in nine career majors. Scheffler had piled up top-25s in half of his 70 starts, and top-10s in nearly a quarter of them, which are astounding numbers at the start of a career. 

So it was just a matter of time, right?

Well, on Friday night, this didn't appear to be the time. Scheffler was far back in 44th place. He shot himself into contention with a 62 on Saturday. And even though he played well Sunday, he trailed two guys -- Cantlay and Theegala -- by a stroke with only three holes to play. Theegala shot himself out of it, Cantlay missed a couple birdie tries and, when Scheffler birdied 17, he was tied for the lead.

This is a good time to point out that putting has been Scheffler's shortcoming. He hasn't been horrible/terrible like so many others, as he was ranked a little outside the top 100 on Tour the past two years. But it was the difference between him winning and not. In Phoenix, he ranked second in the field in putting, punctuated by that long birdie for victory. Scheffler is now ranked 28th on Tour in putting this season.

As we see with so many elite ball strikers, once they can putt even a little bit, or at least have a good week on the greens, the sky's the limit.

Scheffler is now inside the top 10 in the world for the first time at No. 9 and, as we mentioned before, he's already been sniffing the winner's circle at majors. The Masters might be a big ask, but he already has three combined top-8s at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open.

Just like it was only a matter of time before Scheffler's first win, it's also only a matter of time before he claims his first major championship.     

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Patrick Cantlay
Cantlay is becoming the next best thing to Jon Rahm, maybe even more so than Rahm. In four 2022 starts he's finished fourth twice, ninth and now runner-up. And it could've been more, even despite a second straight week of subpar iron play (he ranked 63rd in greens in regulation). He missed a 12-footer for birdie on 17, a 10-footer on 18 and then an 11-footer to match Scheffler's winning birdie on the third playoff hole. As it is, Cantlay moved to No. 3 in the world and it would've been No. 2 with a win, right behind Rahm.

Sahith Theegala
In just his 24th career PGA Tour start, the 24-year-old former Pepperdine star showed that he belongs. He played the weekend alongside some of the greats of the game and held the lead all the way until getting a bad hop on 17 on Sunday that made his ball skip into the water for a soul-crushing bogey. Statistically, he's in good shape everywhere but driving accuracy, which doesn't make Riviera this week all that attractive. But his putting was greatly improved at Phoenix. Most of all, he showed the mental fortitude needed to win on Tour. And the crowd loved his grit and determination. Theegala hasn't replaced Scheffler as the Best Player Without A Victory – that's probably Will Zalatoris – but there aren't too many guys ahead of him on the list. He soared from 318th in the world to 165th.

Brooks Koepka
Note to self: Koepka doesn't come to play every week, but Phoenix is one of his prime spots. It was silly not to consider him (now Riviera is a different story). Koepka birdied five of the last eight holes to finish tied for third, but there was a fatal bogey mixed in on 16. He did not have his best stuff tee to green. Instead, it was his putting that kept him in it all day, ranking seventh in the field. Koepka moved from 20th to 15th in the world.

Xander Schauffele
As a close observer of Schauffele, and a frustrated fantasy owner at times, it's getting to be a broken record. Come close, can't close the deal. This time it was both water balls (two) and missed putts (44th in SG: Putting). Schauffele ranked first in both greens in regulation and SG: Tee-to-Green. He now hasn't officially won in more than three years, no matter what the PGA Tour or the Official World Golf Rankings say.

Alex Noren
If you'll recall, Noren had a quietly excellent season last year when he tied for 33rd in the FedEx Cup standings to just miss the Tour Championship. He already has two top-25s this season with a tie for sixth at Phoenix in which he led the field in putting.

Billy Horschel
Eleventh last week, tied for sixth this week. Horschel is up to 21st in the world and rarely misses a cut. He's missed only one in almost a year.

Justin Thomas
Thomas made a late push to tie for eighth, which, if you play DFS, is all that matters. But he was never in the mix, didn't really justify his price as the No. 2 guy on the DraftKings board and is going on a year since last winning at THE PLAYERS Championship. He's slid to eighth in the world.

Jon Rahm
Rahm has always been good but never great at this tournament. He tied for 10th, which is a pretty good off-week. He led the field in SG: Off-the-Tee but was 57th in putting. Rahm has a boatload of top-5s and top-10s, but he hasn't actually won a tournament since the U.S. Open last June. 

Keith Mitchell
Mitchell tied for 10th, giving him three top-12s already this season. He's someone to keep an eye on. He's now 78th in the world, his best position since late 2019, which was the year he won the Honda Classic.

Tom Hoge
Hoge faded late on Sunday to tie for 14th. But to be on the first page of the leaderboard for a chunk of Sunday just a week after a life-altering maiden win shows some mental toughness and bodes well for him going forward.

Bubba Watson
Coming off a runner-up in Saudi Arabia, Watson impressively shot four rounds in the 60s and led the field in Strokes Gained: Approach. That's right, Bubba Watson led a field in accuracy. He now heads to Riviera, where he's won three times. He's again approaching top-50 status in the world rankings, as he now checks in at No. 53.

Adam Scott
Scott tied for 38th in his first 2022 start on Tour. It's good he got in some reps before heading to Riviera, where he won in 2020 and was runner-up a few years before that.

Abraham Ancer
Ancer had a great first two rounds to offer hope his slump was ending but faded badly on the weekend to tie for 43rd. His season-long stats are starting to become alarming. He is ranked outside the top 150 on Tour in every SG stat but Off-the-Tee. It's certainly something to monitor for a top-20 golfer.

Rickie Fowler
Fowler missed the cut on the number, which was too bad because it was evident what a fan favorite he was in Phoenix, site of his last win three years ago. He electrified the crowd with an eagle on 17 on Thursday. He was in a featured group alongside Jon Rahm. The Tour would love nothing more than for Fowler to become relevant again. He's in this week's Genesis Invitational, but only because of a sponsor's invite.

Viktor Hovland
Hovland missed the cut. He came in with wins in three of his past five worldwide starts to zoom to No. 3 in the world. He now sits fourth after being overtaken by Cantlay. This was a stronger field than in any of his wins. Wins are wins, but Hovland still doesn't have a big one in his career.

Sam Burns
Burns also missed the cut, his second in a row. If you recall last year at Riviera, he led most of the way before faltering late on Sunday. He's in much better position to close out a win now, but not if he doesn't turn around his game.

Tony Finau
Finau missed his second straight cut after also coming up short at the Farmers. He's now gone 10 tournaments without a top-10 since finally getting that breakthrough win at the Northern Trust. It's now more than a victory hangover.

Daniel Berger
Berger missed the cut a week after withdrawing from Pebble Beach with a back ailment. He's sitting out this week's big tournament at Riviera. Obviously, this injury is something to keep an eye on heading into the Florida Swing in two weeks.