SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — Scottie Scheffler played the best final round of his career, a model of poise and greatness in a final two hours of charge and collapse that ended Sunday with an Olympic gold medal fittingly draped around the neck of golf’s No. 1 player.
As Scheffler stood at the top of the podium and the final bars of the national anthem echoed across Le Golf National, he finally lost his bearings.
With the medal dangling from his right hand and pinned to his chest, Scheffler raised his left arm to hide his sobs.
Tears are no stranger to Schaeffler, and his latest trophy has brought out the best in him.
Trailing by four strokes entering the final round and six strokes early on the back nine, Scheffler birdied five of the final six holes to tie the course record with a 9-under 62 and win by one stroke over Tommy Fleetwood.
“It’s been a long week. It’s been a challenging week. We played some great golf today and I’m proud to go home with a medal,” Scheffler said. “The guys played some great golf and I think we should all be proud of the golf we played this week.”
It was the biggest match of the three men’s events since golf returned to the Olympic Games in 2016, and was a thrilling spectacle in front of a crowd of 30,000.
Scheffler’s incredible run of 29 strokes on the back nine was matched by relentless play from Fleetwood (66) and Hideki Matsuyama, who had birdie chances on the final six holes but had to settle for par in a 65 to take the bronze medal.
Then Jon Rahm had a stunning collapse, losing a four-stroke lead with two holes to play before a double bogey ended his hopes, Rory McIlroy was one stroke behind before hitting a wedge into the water, and PGA and British Open champion Xander Schauffele had a chance to win gold again before playing four straight holes at four-over par.
Not to be missed is France’s Victor Perez, who smashed the opening tee shot on Thursday and came within one stroke of a medal on Sunday. He should know the words to “La Marseillaise.” Fans serenaded him after nearly every tee shot.
Everyone had a chance on this thrilling back nine.
In the end, Scheffler, of course, performed best in his best year. Six PGA Tour wins this year, Including his second Masters titleScheffler added Olympic gold to a remarkable season with a round that kept the capacity crowd glued to the screen for a thrilling conclusion.
He finished 72 holes at 19-under 265, setting an Olympic record.
Scheffler became just the second American to win a gold medal in men’s golf. Schauffele at the Tokyo Olympics.
The only disappointment was that even though Scheffler was mentally exhausted while preparing for the playoff on the driving range, it never happened after Fleetwood missed the 18th green wide left and Scheffler’s 100-foot throw just missed the hole.
Everything was so blurry that Scheffler had no idea where he even stood.
“When I saw Rahm get to 20 under, I had a little bit of a mental change and just wanted to do my best to get up the leaderboard. At one point I wasn’t even sure if I was going to be in the running to win,” Scheffler said.
“John is a really good player so I just tried my best to get some birdies, move up and hopefully win a medal.”
After finally seeing the leaderboard behind the 16th green, Scheffler was in the fairway on the par-4 15th and hit a wedge to one foot to close to one behind. Then on the par-3 17th, he hit his tee shot to eight feet for birdie, then smashed an 8-iron out of the rough to 18 feet for four straight birdies and his first lead of the week.
“He’s winning trophy after trophy, pulling further and further away from the legions of people who follow him around the world,” Schauffele said. “When I take my competitive hat off and put my American Patriot hat on, I’m just so happy that we won another gold medal.”
McIlroy, It ended with a 10-year streak in which he failed to win a major title.started the back nine with five straight birdies to get into the mix, and he found himself in the middle of the 15th fairway, wedge in hand, one stroke behind the leader.
“I missed my spot by about three or four yards and ended up missing out on a medal,” he said.
But he has developed a deeper appreciation for the Olympics, especially over the past three years when prize money has risen to compete with the rival LIV Golf League, funded by Saudi Arabia’s wealthy.
“I still think the Ryder Cup is the best tournament and pure competition in our sport, and I think this tournament has the potential to be just as good,” McIlroy said. “When you think about how much of a show the sport of golf has become right now, and the two tournaments that are maybe the purest form of competition in our sport, we’re not playing there for the money.”
“It speaks to what’s important in sports,” he said. “I think all of our players had a great experience this week.”
Scheffler was first to deliver a stellar 62, tying his best score of the year and his best final round of his career. He started with three straight birdies to get his name on the board, including two from 12 feet early on the back nine.
Then Scheffler began to take off, standing on the podium and crying. He came back from five strokes to win The Players Championship in March, won the Masters again in April and then won four other marquee tournaments against some of the best players on the PGA Tour.
And now an Olympic gold medal.
“It was really emotional standing on stage singing the national anthem while the flag was raised,” he said. “It’s definitely something I’ll remember for a long time.”
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-Paris-Olympic-Games