SCOTTIE Scheffler flirted with disaster. He lost his three-shot lead when he made the turn on Sunday (Monday in Manila) during the final round of the PGA Championship played at the brutish Quail Hollow.
But like a true champion and playing the way a world No. 1 should, the 29-year-old gathered himself in the back nine and turned back a slew of challengers, including LIV stars Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, to win his third major by five strokes.
He shot an even-par 71, enough to march to the last two holes with a six-shot lead. He surrendered one stroke when he missed the fairway on the 18th. But that didn’t matter. He was already on his way to another major, his third, after winning two Masters titles.
With a superb and dominating performance, Scheffler will head to the U.S. Open next month as an overwhelming favorite. If he takes that too, he could win golf’s grand slam by the end of the season if his game and fortune hold in the British Open in July.
Scheffler’s game has been compared to one other player in recent years. Yes, that’s Tiger Woods. Last year, he won seven titles. This year, his PGA Tour record stands at ninth, 25th, third, 11th, 20th, second, fourth, eighth, first, first.
To illustrate further, in the last two tournaments, Scheffler won by eight and five strokes. He’s the only player other than Tiger who won consecutive starts by that margin since 1970. And think about this: He was 42 under in his past eight rounds.
Rico Hoey misses cut at PGA Championship
Rico Hoey, the first Filipino to play on the PGA Tour, can add the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow as part of his growing up on the world’s toughest professional tour.
Ranged against the world’s best in the second major of the year, the 29-year-old Hoey got lost in the fog of competition, scoring rounds of 75-78—153, 11 over par and 10 shots from the cut which was one over.
That would put him in a tie for 146th in a field of 155. Still, for Hoey, playing in his second major after the US Open last year, that result would still be a positive as he continues to polish his game in a league considered the pinnacle of the sport.
Ph team in Sirikit Cup ends up last in 13-nation tilt
And speaking of polishing golf games, the same could be said of the Philippine team to the Queen Sirikit Cup in Japan as the team carrying the country’s flag, ended dead last in a field of 13 nations.
Our young crew was beaten black and blue, lost by 86 shots to the eventual winner South Korea after shooting a collective 51 over par which one local golf site described as “grit and determination against the strongest teams in Asia-Pacific.”
Our hope is that the girls will not suffer long-term trauma from this experience, practically being fed to the lions, perhaps wondering how they got into this situation.
To cite just one example, our best player was 24 over par in the four-day tournament while the winner from South Korea was 21 under.
Sadly, the result also illustrated how backward our golf program is despite what many observers said is the growing popularity of the game.
What actually is growing is the leisure part of the game as many people who normally have ignored the sport are now joyfully embracing it, some probably just to brag that they are now playing golf.
At the Queen Sirikit Cup, the Philippine team were soundly beaten by teams that had less golf history than us such as Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.
Mickelson takes 4 shots from the bunker
Phil Mickelson was an afterthought at the PGA Championship. But he grabbed headlines anyway for a very unlikely reason.
The LIV poster child had a round going in the second day of the championship. He was three under par when he teed off on the 12th. His approach shot landed in a bunker. And that was when disaster struck.
It took him four shots to get out. When the sand settled, he was one over par for the day. But Phil being Phil, he birdied the next two holes only to lose them with two more bogeys coming home, giving him a 72, one over par at Quail Hollow Golf Club.
Needless to say, he missed the cut. He had a first round 79, eight over par and his tournament was actually over on the first day.
Navarrosa shines in Ladies European Tour
Brianna Navarrosa, who lives in the US but campaigns in the European Ladies Tour, made a giant career leap with a tie for second at the Dutch Ladies Open in Amsterdam
Navarrosa, the daughter of former Filipino tennis player Ringo, shot a bogey-free round of six-under-par 66 at the Goyer Golf and Country Club for her best finish as a touring pro.
She tied local girl and LPGA veteran Anne Van Dam, two strokes behind Mimi Rhodes of England, who shot a 69 and won her third LET title of the season.
Golf quote of the day
“I guess I would say Quail Hollow is like a Kardashian,” six-time PGA Tour winner Hunter Mahan said. “It’s very modern, beautiful and well-kept. But it lacks a soul or character.”
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