By Aidan Mastandrea
Staff Writer
The best week of the year for golf fans has now come and gone. What had the looks of being an all-time finish at Augusta National Golf Club quickly became a rout as Scottie Scheffler took a strangle hold on the tournament, winning by four strokes and claiming his second green jacket.
With the professional golf world fractured, this was the first of only four times this season that fans get to see all of the world's best face off against each other, and it did not disappoint.
With a star-studded leaderboard, Tiger Woods returning and making the cut for a record 24th straight time and Scheffler continuing his dominant stretch, it was a golf lover's dream.
After a rain delay to start the tournament and a fairly normal first round, it became evident early in round two that the course was showing its teeth. Some of the best players in the world were making uncharacteristically high scores that had not been seen at Augusta National in a long time. With the lack of rain recently, the course was dry and fast. That and the slight course changes were a recipe for carnage.
Jordan Spieth, Viktor Hovland, Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman, all top 20 in the Official World Golf Rankings, all missed the cut after poor showings in the first two rounds.
Despite many stars not making it to the weekend, many other big names rose to the top of the leaderboard. Two-time major winner Collin Morikawa, world number seven Ludvig Åberg and fan favorite Max Homa were all within striking distance of Scheffler heading into the final round.
As the sun rose upon Augusta, Georgia on Sunday, fans could not wait until the leaders teed off in the afternoon for what was expected to be a battle until the 18th hole. Scheffler certainly had something to say about that. The front nine was tight, at one point having four golfers tied for the lead. But “Amen Corner” (holes 11-13) saw many of their chances of putting on the green jacket dwindle.
Åberg and Morikawa both put the ball into the water on the par-4 11th hole, surrendering multiple strokes to Scheffler. That was followed by a terrible bounce into a bush on Homa’s tee shot at the par-3 12th, and all of a sudden the world number one had a four stroke lead with seven holes to play. With this lead, he never looked back.
Scheffler played a virtually perfect back nine, coming in at 3-under for the round and 11-under for the tournament. Heading into the week, he had won two out of his last three starts and was the heavy favorite to put on the green jacket, even through an up and down week. He seemed to not even have his best stuff for most of the week and still won going away.
Scheffler is by far the best player in the world, and with the PGA Championship only a month away, he will once again be a heavy favorite to take home the second major of the year at Valhalla.
Tiger
While Scheffler’s current run is reminiscent of prime Woods, no one moves the needle like the big cat himself.
After his car accident a few years ago, fans have not had many opportunities to see Woods tee it up, and when he has, injuries and rusty play have forced many withdrawals.
Earlier this year, he teed it up at his tournament in California, but withdrew after one round due to sickness. There were not any expectations around how Woods would look. With a chance to break the record for consecutive made cuts at the Masters, Woods toughed out two rounds.
After a rain delay cut Woods’ round one short, he was forced to play 23 holes on Friday. With his injury history, many speculated that this would do Woods in, but he gutted out an even par round two to make the cut easily and break the record.
While his play over the weekend was poor, it was a success seeing him finish 72 holes and once again make the cut at the Masters. Tiger himself said he will now prepare for the PGA Championship, so it looks like fans will get more Woods moments soon.
The Masters never fails to bring excitement to the golf world. The only problem is that golf fans have to wait another 360 days for next year’s tournament.
