It has become a norm this season on the PGA Tour; whenever Scottie Scheffler won in 2024, records tumbled as he went about creating a niche that will take a lot of doing to breach. At the 2024 Hero World Challenge, he secured his 9th win of the season.
On Sunday, December 8, Scheffler added one more nugget to the aura by becoming only the third player after tournament host Tiger Woods and Viktor Hovland to defend the USD 5 million Hero World Challenge title.
Given its status and limited field of 20 players, it is an event with no cut and FedExCup points, but that had no bearing on the man who listed the six-shot win at the Albany Golf Club as his season’s ninth title.
By bettering his winning score in 2023 by five shots with a 25-under 263, Scheffler’s final round 9-under 63 was his lowest in 16 rounds at Albany over the years, and reemphasized his overwhelming superiority this season by defending a tournament week for the third time this year after the WM Phoenix Open and Players Championship.
There cannot be a more solid affirmation to the season that winds down than Scheffler’s World No 1 tag, but there could be one more accolade waiting to be picked up.
Nominated for the Jack Nicklaus Award as the PGA Tour Player of the Year, Scheffler, should he win, will become the first to win the coveted prize for three consecutive years after Tiger Woods’ run from 2005-2007.
The list is long, but Scheffler has emphasized in the past, and it was stressed upon on Sunday once more that he isn’t a man who focuses on legacies or dwell on past glories.
“I’m never really good at that kind of stuff (reflection). I really do my best when I stay in the present. I’m very grateful for the season and the wins and it’s been a ton of fun, but at the end of the day when we go home, I’m looking forward to doing stuff that’s not golf. I like to go home and live my life,” said the family man.
As one driven by the constant urge to get better, Scheffler came into the week with a new claw putting grip, and the benefits were on view on the greens. Used for putts from about 15 feet, Scheffler finished among the toppers at the Hero World Challenge 2024 in key putting statistics with just two bogeys over 72 holes.
For one who returned to competitive golf after a two-month break, the fluency was pleasing. “I’m always trying to improve, trying to do little things to get better. I don’t think about achievements, wins, losses, I just try and get the most out of myself and come out here and compete and have a good attitude,” said the man who had the tournament host gushing in the commentary booth.
Remarking on Scheffler’s nagging consistency on the greens, which is a major step-up from the days not long ago when putting wasn’t counted among his biggest strengths, Tiger Woods said the 2024 champion was one who could do no wrong.
Sunday’s breakaway was the latest case in point. Starting the final round a shot adrift of overnight leader Justin Thomas at 16-under, Scheffler picked up shots almost at will, interspersing his walk through the 18 holes with four birdies on the front nine and 5 on the final stretch.
“It feels nice. We did a lot of good things on the golf course this week, played some solid golf. Eliminating the mistakes and making a good amount of birdies is always helpful. Teddy (caddie) and I felt like we did a pretty good job of keeping the golf course in front of us and staying in position,” said Scheffler after joining Woods, Davis Love III, Graeme McDowell and Viktor Hovland as multiple winners of the Hero World Challenge 2024.
Despite the status of Woods’ event on the PGA Tour schedule, the win counts, and notching his season’s ninth triumph across tournaments he’s lost a count of made Scheffler even more appreciative of the space he is in.
“Golf very rarely feels easy. I see a lot of the players out here when they have great rounds, it seems so easy and then you get done and you talk to them about it and it’s never really that easy. Like I say, I try to do my best to come out here and compete, and compete well,” he said.
Seven wins in the regular season to go with the Olympic gold at Paris, Scheffler’s high in Albany left him with 9 wins in 19 starts on Tour, and not since 2009, when Woods spent an entire calendar year atop the ranking summit, has world golf seen a similar occurrence.
The phenomenon named Scheffler is a result of staying balanced irrespective of the outcome on the golf course. “I try not to get too high or too low out there, I try to hit each shot objectively and some weeks I’m really good at it, some weeks I’m not so good at it. Staying even keel has always been something that’s beneficial for my game,” said the man whose four appearances in Albany read as W, W, 2nd, 2nd.
Winning at least once every season since he burst on to the PGA Tour as a young sensation in 2022, Joohyung (Tom) Kim thought the winless run this year could end in the sylvan setting of The Bahamas. The belief was backed by hard facts.
On Saturday at the Hero World Challenge 2024, he scorched the par-72, 7449 layout to best the third-round score in tournament history with a 10-under 62, which set him up for the final flourish. With just two shots off the leader, and off Scheffler, Kim was kicked by the prospect of a Sunday faceoff with Scheffler, his frequent training partner in Dallas.
Kim seemed to keep pace early on but lost steam to finish six shots off Scheffler’s tournament high. The Korean did match the champion on the birdie count at 27, but Scheffler’s brilliance resonated all through, and not just on the greens.
Kim was in acknowledgement. “The biggest thing that I see is that he (Scheffler) is always trying to get better. Despite winning nine times this year, he’s always finding little ways and I think it’s really, really cool to see and you can take a lot from that.”
Denied by Scheffler a second time after the playoff loss at the Travelers Championship in June, finishing runner-up once again had its takeaways, which Kim was quick to sort out from the disappointment of the near miss.
“Thursday wasn’t that fun, but it was rewarding to finish the way I finished…I struggled with the grass and I made adjustments and it worked right away. Just believing in myself, just trusting myself and the process, not trying to look at the guy who just won, just going about my business. A lot of positives, for sure,” said Kim.
Justin Thomas did well to channelize his focus after the birth of daughter Molly Grace with the sole third finish, but the search for his first win since the 2022 PGA Championship will spill over into the New Year.
As the 54-hole leader, hope floated but when up against a birdie machine like Scottie Scheffler, Thomas needed an effort much better than the round of 2-under 70 he signed for on Sunday. “It’s disappointing, I would have liked to put a little more heat obviously on Scottie going in the back nine,” he said.
But rediscovering the knack of putting himself in contention again is a source of encouragement. Tying for second at the ZOZO Championship in October, the sole third despite being far from his best golf is a definite thumbs up.
“I didn’t do a good job of performing and just playing better today (Sunday), but it’s always fun to be in the final group of a tournament. If I keep doing it more often, it (win) will happen eventually,” said Thomas after notching his consecutive top-3 finish here.
As a first timer to this limited-field event, Akshay Bhatia ticked a box by finishing best of the eight debutants in the fray.
Given the relaxed environment, a lot of the players finetuned their game by trying out changes before the new season. Bhatia executed what he had on the to-do list, and while the outcome and sole fourth finish will add momentum to his 2025 campaign, Bhatia is aware his Moving Day (Saturday) stats, when he shot a 1-under 71, need to read a lot better if he is win a third time on Tour after the Valero Texas Open success in April.
“I just got to do a little better on Saturday. Obviously, playing with Scottie is very different. I’ve done it a couple times, but I just need to get off to a better start than what I did,” said Bhatia.
As the tournament host, Tiger Woods reached out to the media warmly, but there was no confirmation on a likely comeback as a fierce competitor after the back surgery in September.
The year has been about battling pain, and his season stats are a reflection of the discomfort. After withdrawing from the Genesis Invitational at the start of the year, Woods made cut at The Masters but missed out in the remaining three Majors.
“I’m not tournament sharp yet, No. I’m still not there. These are 20 of the best players in the world and I’m not sharp enough to compete against them at this level. So, when I’m ready to compete and play at this level, then I will,” said the former World No 1, who will turn 49 on December 30.…Read more by Robin Bose
