Scheffler survives major scare to win PGA Championship

Final round

Scottie Scheffler recovered from blowing a five-shot lead and withstood a final-round charge from Jon Rahm to cruise to an impressive major victory at the PGA Championship.

Scheffler took a three-shot lead into the final round at Quail Hollow and briefly saw his advantage increase to five shots after early bogeys from playing partner Alex Noren, only to give hope to the chasing pack after stuttering to a front-nine 37.

Rahm made three birdies in a four-hole stretch around the turn to briefly pull level with the world No 1, before dropping five shots over the infamous ‘Green Mile’ closing three-hole stretch to hand full advantage back to Scheffler.

Back-to-back birdies from the 14th jumped Scheffler five ahead again with three to play, with a final-hole bogey closing an eventful level-par 71 and securing him a third major title with a five-shot victory.

US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau shared second on six-under with Davis Riley and Harris English, who charged up the leaderboard with a round-of-the-day 65, as Rahm slipped back to tied-eighth and Rory McIlroy’s bid for back-to-back major titles ended in a tied-47th finish.

Scheffler failed to get up and down from the sand to save par at the first but recovered from an errant tee shot to roll in a 15-foot birdie at the par-four second, which lifted him five ahead when Noren bogeyed two of his first four holes.

The two-time Masters champion holed from 18 feet to save par at the fifth but missed a 10-footer at the next, with Scheffler then failing to take advantage of the next two scoring holes and bogeying the ninth to fall back to nine-under.

Rahm – starting the day five back – opened with seven straight pars before following a four-foot birdie at the eighth by beginning his back nine with successive birdies, the latter coming from 15 feet at the 11th to see him move alongside Scheffler.

Scheffler edged back ahead with a birdie at the par-five 10th but saw the chasing pack bunch up ahead of him, with DeChambeau posting successive gains from the 14th and Matt Fitzpatrick making eagle on the same par-four to both get within two of the lead.

Rahm failed to take advantage of birdie looks on his back nine and began his late collapse when he bogeyed the par-four 16th, while Scheffler followed up a birdie at the 14th by adding another from tap-in range at the par-five next.

Any hopes of a late Rahm fightback were ended when the Spaniard found water with his tee shots on both the last two holes, resulting in successive double bogeys dropping him back to four-under, giving Scheffler a six-shot buffer to the par-four last.

Scheffler elected to lay up from the rough after a wayward final tee shot and pitched onto the green with his third, with a two-putt bogey enough to complete a rollercoaster win and spark emotional celebrations from the American.

DeChambeau finished runner-up for a second successive year but slipped out of solo second after a final-hole bogey, while Riley recovered from a triple bogey on the par-five seventh to play the rest of his round bogey-free and also finish on six-under.

English had birdied five of his last eight holes to set the initial clubhouse target and complete the trio on six-under, with Taylor Pendrith a further stroke back in tied-fifth alongside JT Poston and halfway leader Jhonattan Vegas, while Rahm ended tied-eighth and seven behind Scheffler.

“I just kept hitting it left,” Scheffler admitted. “I knew it was going to be a challenging day. Finishing off a major championship is always difficult and I did a good job of staying patient on the front nine.

“I didn’t have my best stuff but I kept myself in it, and I stepped up on the back nine and had a really good nine holes. I’m just really proud of the way I fought this week.”

DeChambeau, who finished in a share of second, said: “I felt like I had the game to win this week and the golf course suited me pretty well. Missed a few putts coming down the stretch and got a little unlucky in this great game of golf. It kind of is what it is.

“I’m sure you heard me out there really baffled quite a bit. It was a good fight, good battle and I take a lot from it. It’s just burning a bigger fire in my belly.”

Scheffler is due to headline the next two PGA Tour events, with the Charles Schwab Challenge starting on Thursday at the Colonial Country Club before the Memorial Tournament – a Signature Event – takes places at Muirfield Village.

The American will be among the pre-tournament favourites once again at the US Open from June 12-15, held at Oakmont Country Club, where DeChambeau returns as defending champion after last year’s dramatic victory over McIlroy.