As if there was ever a doubt, Scottie Scheffler appears ready for the Ryder Cup.
The world No. 1 shot a final-round 5-under 67 at Silverado Resort’s North Course to win the Procore Championship in Napa, California, by one stroke over his fellow U.S. Ryder Cup teammate Ben Griffin.
Scheffler, who signed for a 72-hole total of 19-under 269, trailed Griffin by eight strokes at the halfway point of the tournament but stormed back with a 10-birdie 64 on Saturday, his 31st round of 64 or lower on the PGA Tour in the last four seasons, or nine more than any other player during that span. Scheffler caught Griffin for the first time with a birdie at No. 10 on Sunday. Scheffler made bogey at 11 to fall back but bounced back with a birdie at 12 and never surrendered the lead en route to his 19th career Tour title.
Griffin roared out of the gate with birdies on his first three holes and led by as many as three strokes but the birdies dried up. He bogeyed the fourth and lost the lead that he had held since early on Friday with another dropped shot at 14. Scheffler poured in another birdie at the par-5 15th to stretch his lead to two strokes before Griffin matched with a 15-footer of his own, his first birdie in 12 holes. He had a chance to win in regulations or force a sudden-death playoff but took three putts from 60 feet at 18, including missing from 6 feet for birdie. He signed for 2-under 70.
Scheffler won for the sixth time this season and joined Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer as the only golfers to win six or more times in back-to-back seasons since 1960.
Lanto Griffin failed to be low Griffin but closed in 65 to finish third. Jackson Koivun, the 20-year-old No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, posted 1-under 71 and finished tied for fourth, his third straight top-10 finish on Tour, with Emiliano Grillo. J.J. Spaun, the reigning U.S. Open champion and another member of the 12-man U.S. Ryder Cup side, carded a bogey-free 66.
Griffin, speaking for many in the field, said, “I wish Scottie wasn’t here.”
But Scheffler shows up to a tournament with only one goal in mind and that is to win. He didn’t come to wine country just to dust off any rust off his game.
“It would be unusual for me to have four or five weeks off before the Masters or the U.S. Open or something like that, so there’s no reason that I should be doing that going into the Ryder Cup,” Scheffler explained ahead of the tournament, noting his preparation is critical to his success. “You can practice and do all you can at home, but there’s something different about playing competition, getting ready for a tournament and I think this will be good prep.”
Read the full article here
