Scheffler wins Phoenix Open
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Scottie Scheffler was even par Sunday and three strokes behind after bogeying the par-3 12th in the WM Phoenix Open.
“If you would have told me on 13 tee I was going to be in a playoff, I would have been pleased,” Scheffler said. “I felt a little bit out of it at that point.”
He got back into it quickly and, two hours later, made a 25-foot birdie putt on the third hole of a playoff with Patrick Cantlay to win his first PGA Tour title.
“I’ve been playing great and I was getting so frustrated because I was scoring so poorly,” Scheffler said. “To kind of put things together yesterday and get through all the mistakes I made today and still pull it out is pretty amazing.”
Cantlay missed an 11-foot birdie try to end it.
Scheffler followed the bogey on 12 with three straight birdies, left a birdie putt 2 inches short on the stadium par-3 16th and birdied the par-4 17th. He missed a chance to win on the par-4 18th in regulation when his 5 1/2-foot birdie try slid right.
“I think the first one is probably always the hardest and I definitely made it pretty difficult on myself today,” Scheffler said.
Scheffler closed with a 4-under 67 to match Cantlay at 16-under 268 at TPC Scottsdale. Cantlay, playing a group ahead of Scheffler, had a bogey-free 67.
Scheffler broke through in his 71st tour start. Before Sunday, the 25-year-old former Texas star’s biggest highlights were beating Jon Rahm in September in United States’ Ryder Cup victory at Whistling Straits and shooting a 59 in the 2020 Northern Trust.
“I kept telling myself there would be some bumps in the road,” Scheffler said.
