PGA Championship Round 4: How Scottie Scheffler won his third career major championship

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For the second men’s major championship in a row, it looked like a victory was all but sealed for a superstar, chaos briefly ensued, then eventually, said star wound up the winner. Though this time, the final moments of the championship were slightly less tense.

Here are the top numbers and notes to know from the final round of the PGA Championship.

1. When Scottie Scheffler made the turn Sunday at Quail Hollow, a lead he had built up to five strokes had completely evaporated. With birdies at Nos. 8, 10 and 11, a charging Jon Rahm tied the world number one, turning the inevitable into, possibly, the unthinkable.

Scheffler responded like a champion.

Scottie played holes 10-15, critical scoring opportunities, in 3-under-par. Meanwhile, Rahm’s surge derailed, failing to make birdie at the 15th before playing ‘The Green Mile’ in 5-over. Scheffler’s back-nine score of 34 was more than enough, as he won by five strokes, the largest margin of victory at the PGA since Rory McIlroy won by eight 13 years ago at Kiawah Island.

2. Scheffler’s third major championship victory is also his 15th career official PGA Tour title. Since World War II, only two other players have hit both of those benchmarks before the age of 29: Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods. Scheffler, Nicklaus and Woods are also the only three players with multiple Masters wins, multiple Players Championship victories and a PGA Championship win all-time.

Scheffler has now successfully converted his first three 54-hole leads or co-leads in majors, something done only nine other times in the modern era. All three of Scottie’s major victories have come as the No. 1 ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking. Woods won 11 majors while ranked in the top spot, the only other man besides Scheffler to do it more than once. The OWGR was created in 1986.

When Scheffler has a lead he’s hard to beat. (Andrew Redington / Getty Images)

3. Scheffler’s sprint away from the pack Sunday afternoon was another snapshot of his ability to separate himself from the world’s best. It’s certainly not the first time he has done it in a major, as he’s now won each of his first three majors by three strokes or more.

Since the first Masters in 1934, the only other player to win the first three majors of his career by three shots or more is Seve Ballesteros. Four other men did it in 1900 or earlier – Bob Ferguson, John Henry Taylor, James Braid and Young Tom Morris. Over the last four seasons, five men’s majors have been won by five shots or more – Scottie has accounted for three of those.

Before this week’s five-shot win, Scheffler won in the Dallas area two weeks ago at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson by eight. He is the first player to win back-to-back starts on the PGA Tour by five shots or more (in the same season) since Woods in 2000 when he won Memorial by five and the U.S. Open by 15.

4. If you followed Scheffler throughout the week, you undoubtedly would agree it was not the greatest ball-striking performance of his career. That he led this tournament in strokes gained tee-to-green is a testament to how spoiled we have all become watching his excellent play, week in and week out.

But when Scottie needed it most, he executed brilliantly with his irons. Standing on the 11th tee, with the tournament outcome still in question, Scheffler stood over an approach shot in the fairway, 170 yards from the hole. From 150 to 175 yards out, from the fairway, the field averaged about 31 feet from the hole for the week. Scheffler put his approach 13 feet away, resulting in an easy two-putt par.

5. When McIlroy won the Masters last month, he was the No. 2 player in the world. Now, Scheffler, the world’s top man in OWGR for nearly two years, has won the second major of the season. This is only the second time since the inception of the OWGR that players ranked first or second have won the first two majors in a calendar year. In 2002, Tiger Woods was No. 1 when he won both the Masters and U.S. Open – then the first two majors on the calendar that year.

Good luck breaking through against the stacked talent leading the men’s game at the moment. The last six men’s majors have been won by arguably the four best players in the sport: Scheffler twice, Xander Schauffele twice, Bryson DeChambeau and McIlroy.

This is the fourth consecutive men’s major won by a player who already had a major championship victory in his career. That’s the longest stretch without a first-time winner since the 2014 season, when all four major winners already had one to their name (Bubba Watson, Martin Kaymer, and McIlroy twice).

6. DeChambeau finished in a tie for second, giving him runner-up results in back-to-back years at the PGA Championship. Bryson is just the third player in the PGA’s stroke play era (since 1958) to finish runner-up in consecutive years. The other two are Nicklaus (1964-65) and Dustin Johnson (2019-20).

Bryson was his usual dominant self with driver in hand, leading the field in strokes gained off the tee. His iron play, however, was middling at best, ranking 47th among players to make the cut in strokes gained approach.

Cherry-picking one approach number doesn’t tell the entire story, but it can give one isolated example of the difference between Scheffler and DeChambeau this week. The two combined to hit seven approach shots from the fairway in the range of 125 to 150 yards. Scheffler averaged just inside 10 feet, best in the field. DeChambeau averaged 19 feet, 3 inches.

DeChambeau continues to be a force in the game’s biggest events, as he has finished T6 or better in each of the last five majors contested on U.S. soil. Since the beginning of 2020, he has eight top-six finishes in majors overall, tied with Scheffler and McIlroy for most in that span. He’ll be at the top of the list of favorites next month to defend his U.S. Open title at Oakmont.

DeChambeau struggled to get close to pins on Sunday. (Warren Little / Getty Images)

7. Sharing T2 with DeChambeau are Americans Harris English and Davis Riley. English started his day nearly four hours before the leaders, posting 65, the low score of the final round. When Riley jarred a shot from off the green for birdie at No. 5 he asserted himself as part of the Sunday narrative. That time was brief, though, as he made an eight two holes later.

It is the best finish in a major championship for both players.

8. While Rahm’s rollercoaster Sunday ultimately ended in a tie for eighth, Sunday marked the first time the charismatic Spaniard has held a share of the lead in a major at any point on the weekend since joining LIV Golf at the end of 2023. Rahm’s score of 5-over on the Green Mile was the second-worst of any player in the field Sunday. Only his Legion XIII teammate Tyrrell Hatton had a poorer outcome on Quail Hollow’s last three holes (6-over).

Fellow LIV Golf player Joaquin Niemann wasn’t exactly in a cauldron of pressure Sunday, beginning his round 10 shots behind Scheffler. But he finished with the same score as Rahm – 280, 4-under – to pick up his best major championship finish to date.

9. Players in the top 60 of the new Official World Golf Ranking otherwise not qualified earned an exemption into the U.S. Open. Several players worked their way into Oakmont this week, including 18 and 36-hole leader Jhonattan Vegas, who jumped from 70th in the ranking to 49th. It will be Vegas’ first U.S. Open start in four years.

Co-runner-up Riley leapt from 100th to 53rd and will also get a spot. As will Si Woo Kim and Joe Highsmith, who each finished in a tie for eighth place.

10. Attention now turns to Oakmont, host course for the United States Open for a record 10th time. Johnson won by three shots in 2016, the last time it was contested there. The last USGA Championship played at Oakmont was the U.S. Amateur in 2021, won by James Piot.

The U.S. Open begins in just 25 days.

(Top photo of Scottie Scheffler: Alex Slitz / Getty Images)

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