Great Scottie! Scheffler pulls away
to win PGA Championship for 3rd major title
[May 19, 2025]
By DOUG FERGUSON
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler had every reason to worry
the PGA Championship was slipping away.
A five-shot lead on the front nine was gone in four holes. Every
shot seemed to go left and he didn't know why. Jon Rahm was peeling
off birdies and on the verge of tracking him down Sunday at Quail
Hollow.
And that's when Scheffler showed why he has been golf's No. 1 player
for two straight years, why he has compiled more PGA Tour titles
quicker than anyone this side of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus since
1950.
And why he now has the Wanamaker Trophy to go along with two Masters
titles.
Scheffler turned a tense Sunday into another runaway by not missing
a shot when the pressure was at its peak, giving himself another
pleasant walk to the 18th green with another major title secure in
the hands of golf's best.
“This back nine will be one that I remember for a long time,”
Scheffler said. “It was a grind out there. I think at one point on
the front I maybe had a four- or five-shot lead, and making the
turn, I think I was tied for the lead.
“So to step up when I needed to the most, I’ll remember that for a
while.”
There was nothing fancy about it, just fairways and greens and
holing the putts that eluded Rahm in his first time in serious
contention at a major since he won the 2023 Masters and left at the
end of the year for LIV Golf.
Rahm's hopes ended when he failed to convert birdie chances on the
two easiest holes on the back nine at Quail Hollow, and then
finished bogey-double bogey-double bogey. By then the tournament was
effective over. It only cost Rahm money.
The only comfort for Scheffler was looking across the lake on the
par-5 15th to see Rahm in a bunker, leading to bogey on the 16th
that gave Scheffler a three-shot cushion. Scheffler recalls
thinking, “If I birdie here, it’s going to go a long way.”
He drilled 3-wood just over the back of the green, and from the same
spot where Rahm earlier that hit putter 12 feet by the hole,
Scheffler cozied it up to a foot for birdie.
Scheffler closed with a bogey he could afford for an even-par 71,
giving him a five-shot victory and his third major title. Scheffler
became the first player since Seve Ballesteros to win his first
three majors by three shots or more.
The margin doesn't match up with the grind. That much was clear when
Scheffler raised his arms on the 18th green and then ferociously
slammed his cap to the turf, a brand of emotion rarely seen by the
28-year-old Texas star.
“Just a lot of happiness,” he said. “Just maybe thankful as well. It
was a long week. I felt like this was as hard as I battled for a
tournament in my career.”
It was a lot sweeter than last year, when he was arrested outside
Valhalla Golf Club for charges later dropped that he wasn't
following police instructions as they investigated a traffic
fatality.
No change of that happening at Quail Hollow. He stayed close enough
to walk.
Inside the ropes, this was no walk in the park the final margin
might suggest.
Scheffler had a five-shot lead standing on the sixth tee. But with a
shaky swing that led to two bogeys, and with Rahm making three
birdies in a four-hole stretch around the turn, they were tied when
Scheffler got to the 10th tee.
It looked like a duel to the finish, with Bryson DeChambeau doing
all he could to get in the mix. Under the most pressure he felt all
day, Scheffler didn’t miss a shot off the tee or from the fairway
until his lead was back to four shots.
Rahm wound up seven shots behind, but the two-time major champion
was the only serious threat. After bogey on the 16th hole, he had to
take on a dangerous pin at the par-3 17th. It bounded over the
sunbaked green into the water for double bogey. And his last tee
shot went left off the grassy bank and into the stream for another
double bogey.
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Scottie Scheffler celebrates after winning the PGA Championship golf
tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Sunday, May 18, 2025, in
Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
All that work to make up a five-shot deficit at the
start of the day and Rahm closed with a 73 to tie for eighth.
“Yeah, the last three holes, it’s a tough pill to swallow right
now,” Rahm said.
“I’ll get over it. I’ll move on,” Rahm said. “Again, there’s a lot
more positive than negative to think about this week. I’m really
happy I put myself in position and hopefully learn from this and
give it another go in the U.S. Open.”
DeChambeau birdied the 14th and 15th to get within two shots, but he
never had another good look at birdie and bogeyed the 18th for a 70.
He tied for second with Harris English (65) and Davis Riley, who
overcame a triple bogey on No. 7 to play bogey-free the rest of the
way and salvaged a 72.
“I’m baffled right now. Just felt like things just didn’t go my way
this week,” DeChambeau said. “I drove it as good as I can. ... I
gave myself a good chance. I just felt like a couple breaks went a
different way.”
J.T. Poston, the North Carolina native who also flirted with an
outside chance, bogeyed the last two holes for a 73 to tie for
fifth.
English finished his Sunday-best score as Scheffler was making his
way down the third hole. He had a flight to catch that afternoon. He
also was the clubhouse leader. But he looked at Scheffler’s name
atop the leaderboard and said with a smile, “I don’t see him
slipping a whole lot. I see myself catching my flight.”
But then Scheffler unable to find his swing. He hit only two fairway
on the front nine. He failed to convert birdies on the par-5 seventh
and the reachable par-4 eighth. On eight of his nine holes, his miss
was to the left. And he was tied with the red-hot Rahm.
But part of Scheffler’s greatness is his ability to wear down a
field, which he did at the Masters both times he won.
“I hit the important shots well this week, and that’s why I’m
walking away with the trophy,” Scheffler said.
He finished at 11-under 273 and picked up his 15th victory in just
his sixth year on the PGA Tour. Dating to 1950, Scheffler is the
third-fastest player to go from one to 15 tour wins, behind only
Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus, and even then by a matter of months.
His victory comes a month after Rory McIlroy captured the Masters to
complete the career Grand Slam. The PGA Championship was always
going to be a tough act to follow and it didn’t come close in terms
of drama. But it served as a reminder why Scheffler has been No. 1
for two straight years, and why it will take a lot to replace him.
McIlroy made the cut on the number, shot 72-72 on the weekend and
tied for 47th. It was his lowest 72-hole finish in four years in the
majors. McIlroy declined all four days to speak to the media.
Scheffler came into the PGA Championship off an eight-shot victory
in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson. And then he won a major by five. It was
the first time since Woods in 2000 that a player won consecutive PGA
Tour starts by five shots or more in the same season.
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