Great Scottie! Scheffler Gets The Olympic Gold Medal In A Thriller With A 62

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – Scottie Scheffler was a paragon of serenity and greatness as he delivered the best final round of his career. The final two hours were filled with charges and collapses, culminating on Sunday with the Olympic gold medal placed over the neck of golf’s top player.

Scheffler only lost control when he stood on the top podium and heard the final few bars of the national anthem played across Le Golf National.

Great Scottie! Scheffler Gets The Olympic Gold Medal In A Thriller With A 62

Scheffler raised his left arm to cover his sobs as the medal dangled beneath his right hand, pinned across his chest.

Scheffler is no stranger to tears. His most recent trophy brought out his very best.

Scheffler was four strokes behind at the start of the final round and six shots down early on the back nine, but he birdied five of six holes down the stretch to match the course record of 9-under 62 and win by one shot over Tommy Fleetwood.

“This has been a tough week. It’s been a hard week. “I played some great golf today, and I’m proud to be leaving with a medal,” Scheffler said. “These guys played tremendous golf and I think we should all be proud of the golf that we played this week.”

It was a show-stopper, the best of the three men’s competitions since golf returned to the Olympic schedule in 2016, with 30,000 fans getting their money’s worth.

Scheffler’s stunning charge, as he shot 29 on the back nine. The tenacious performance of Fleetwood (66) and Hideki Matsuyama, who had birdie opportunities on the final six holes but had to settle for pars for a 65 to take bronze.

And there was a stunning collapse by Jon Rahm, who saw a four-shot lead disappear in two holes and his hopes vanish with a double bogey; by Rory McIlroy, who trailed by one shot until hitting a wedge into the water; and by Xander Schauffele, the PGA and British Open champion who had a chance to win another gold until playing a four-hole stretch in 4-over.

Not to be ignored was Victor Perez of France, who hit the first tee shot on Thursday and was one shot away from a medal on Sunday. He should know the lyrics to “La Marseillaise” if he doesn’t already know them. Fans serenaded him on nearly every tee.

During this thrilling back nine, everyone had a chance.

In the end, Scheffler delivered the best performance of his greatest year. Scheffler, who has already won six times on the PGA Tour this year, including his second Masters championship, added Olympic gold to an incredible season with a round that left the sellout audience on edge for a frantic finish.

He achieved an Olympic record for 72 holes at 19 under 265.

Scheffler becomes the second consecutive American to win gold in men’s golf, following Schauffele at the Tokyo Games.

The only negative was Scheffler winning on the practice range while psychologically exhausted from preparing for a playoff that did not occur because Fleetwood missed the 18th green well to the left, and his 100-foot pitch just missed the hole.

Scheffler had no idea where he stood because everything was so blurry.

“I saw that Rahm had gotten to 20-under, and so I kind of changed a little bit mentally to just really try to do my best to move my way up the leaderboard, and at one point I didn’t even really know if I was in contention or not,” Scheffler told the crowd.

“I just tried to do my best to make some birdies and start moving up and maybe get a medal or something like that just because Jon is such a great player.”

When Scheffler finally looked at the leaderboard behind the 16th green, he was in the fairway on the par-4 15th and hit a wedge to a foot. That brought him within one. Then he hit his tee shot to 8 feet for a birdie on the par-3 17th. The winner was an 8-iron, and he hit out of the rough to 18 feet for his fourth consecutive birdie and first lead of the week.

“He’s been piling up trophies left and right and he keeps moving away from what is the pack of people chasing him in the world,” says Schauffele. “When I take my competitive hat off and put my USA patriot hat on, I’m very happy that we won another gold medal.”

McIlroy, who had gone ten years without a major, got into the mix when he started the back nine with five consecutive birdies. He was one shot behind the lead, in the middle of the 15th fairway, with a wedge in his hand.

“Missed my spot by nearly 3 or 4 yards and that ended up costing me a medal,” stated the football player.

But he walked away with a greater appreciation for the Olympics, particularly after three years of increased prize money to compete with the rival LIV Golf league, backed by Saudi riches.

Great Scottie! Scheffler Gets The Olympic Gold Medal In A Thriller With A 62

“I still think that the Ryder Cup is the best tournament that we have in our game, pure competition, and I think this has the potential to be right up there with it,” McIlroy told the media. “I think with how much of a (expletive) show the game of golf is right now and you think about the two tournaments that might be the purest form of competition in our sport, we don’t play for money in it.”

“It speaks volumes for what’s important in sports,” he told me. “I think every single player this week has had an amazing experience.”

That begins with Scheffler, who demonstrated utter brilliance with his best score of the year, a 62 that tied for the greatest closing round of his career. He started with three consecutive birdies to put his name on the board. He made two 12-foot birdies on the back nine.

Then Scheffler proceeded to soar until he reached the podium and wept. He won The Players Championship with a five-shot comeback in March, another Masters triumph in April, and four iconic PGA Tour titles against the best fields.

And now, an Olympic gold medal.

“It was just extremely emotional being up there on stage there as the flag is being raised and sitting there singing the national song,” he recalled.” “That’s definitely one I’ll remember for a long time.”

SOURCE | AP