Golf major After Masters triumph: Scheffler’s new family priorities
Scottie Scheffler holds the trophy after his victory. photo
© Matt Slocum/AP/dpa
Second victory in Augusta: Scottie Scheffler doesn’t give the competition a chance at the Masters. In the future, however, the number one in the golf world will have other priorities.
Scottie Scheffler’s most important message after his second Masters victory went to his wife in Dallas. “I love you and I’m coming home now.” Meredith Scudder was not, as usual, at the side of the world number one at the Augusta National Golf Club. The 27-year-old watched her husband’s triumphal procession in front of the television in Texas while she was heavily pregnant. The Scheffler family is expecting their first child at the end of April.
“My priorities will change very soon,” revealed the 27-year-old US star, looking into the near future. “My son or daughter will now play the main role along with my wife. So golf will probably be fourth now.” The competition would be all too happy to believe that last sentence, given the dominance that Scheffler exudes on the golf course. But Scheffler immediately followed up with a statement: “But I still love taking part in tournaments. I don’t plan on taking my eyes off the ball so quickly, that’s for sure.”
Dominance on the last holes
At the Masters, Scheffler was once again unstoppable. The world number one won thanks to a strong final round of 68 and ended up four shots ahead of Sweden’s golf sensation Ludvig Aberg with a total of 277 shots. The 22-year-old from Eslöv played his first major tournament ever in Augusta. The Americans Max Homa and Collin Morikawa as well as Tommy Fleetwood from England shared third place with 284 strokes each. On the eighth hole of the final day, Scheffler, Aberg, Homa and Morikawa were tied, but Scheffler pulled away with three birdies in a row and confidently secured his second Masters title after 2022. Last year’s winner Jon Rahm helped him into the traditional green jacket a little later.
However, Scheffler’s preparation for the Masters finals this year was different than usual. Two years ago he received a lot of encouragement and support from his wife on a Sunday morning in Augusta when he threatened to collapse under the enormous pressure. Now Meredith wasn’t at his side, but Scheffler knew how to help himself. “Sunday morning was definitely different,” Scheffler said. “Instead of just me and Mer (Meredith) in the house, I had a few of my friends over. We sat there and relaxed. They were a big support to me this morning. And yes, it was a long morning, but it worked out worth it.”
A look at his last four starts shows how Scheffler is currently dominating events on the US tour: victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, victory at the Players Championship, second place at the Houston Open and now the triumph at the Masters. From these four events alone he collected prize money of around 12.7 million dollars (11.9 million euros).
Woods completes 100th round at Masters
Superstar Tiger Woods finished the tournament after his Masters negative record with a round of 77, recovering a little from the debacle the day before. The 48-year-old Californian needed 82 strokes for the 18 holes on day three at Magnolia Lane – the 15-time major winner had never completed a worse round at the Masters. Woods has now played 100 rounds at the Masters. The 82-time winner of the PGA Tour finished the tournament in 60th place. “Thursday and Friday it was a good fight, but yesterday it didn’t go that way at all,” said Woods, who injured himself several times in a serious car accident in February 2021 had broken leg. Since then he has only competed in a few select tournaments. “It was a good week all in all, considering I haven’t played a full tournament for a long time.”
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