OWINGS MILLS, Md. — More and more, golf commentators and fellow PGA Tour pros are calling Scottie Scheffler “inevitable.”
The World No. 1 did nothing to quash those rumors Sunday. It took longer than expected to complete his comeback win at the second-to-last tournament of the season, but at the second-to-last hole he secured his latest title with a flourish.
Scheffler pitched in for birdie at the 17th hole and held on to defeat Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre by two shots at the BMW Championship at Caves Valley Golf Club.
Scheffler posted a 3-under-par 67 to finish 15-under 265 at the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. He had little trouble surpassing MacIntyre, the sole leader after each of the first three rounds, who struggled to a 3-over 73.
MacIntyre, who totaled just three bogeys over the first three rounds, bogeyed three of his first five holes Sunday to squander a four-shot lead.
Scheffler had an uneven back nine that included two of his three bogeys. But after both he and MacIntyre missed the green at the difficult par-3 17th, Scheffler aimed a perfect pitch shot that took a full 12 seconds to trickle down the length of the green and directly into the hole.
“It was a chip we practiced,” Scheffler said. “I knew how fast it was, and basically it was just trying to get it on the green. It was kind of a bowl pin back there to where everything kind of funnels towards it, and I knew it was just going to be really fast, and do my best to get it down there and give myself a good look for par.
“When it came out, it came out how we wanted to and then it started breaking and it started looking better and better, and yeah, it was definitely nice to see that one go in.”
It was an unusual win for Scheffler in one key way: With his regular caddie Ted Scott away this week to tend to a personal matter, Scheffler worked with Mike Cromie, usually the caddie for Chris Kirk.
Scheffler said Cromie did a good job of staying even-keeled — something Scheffler has made his own personal brand in his rise to stardom.
“He’s not a guy that’s going to overreact to anything,” Scheffler said. “He did a really good job of just staying even keel all week and kind of impervious to the pressure of a final round, and he did a really good job.”
Scheffler, 29, earned his fifth win of the PGA Tour season and the 18th of his career — all coming since February 2022. He also finished inside the top eight for the 13th consecutive start, tying a mark set by Tom Weiskopf in 1973.
He will be the heavy favorite to repeat at the Tour Championship next week in Atlanta.
“It’s been a nice stretch the last few years and I’ve done some really good things,” Scheffler said. “It’s nice to get the results from a lot of hard work. … It was a battle all the way through. Fortunate to be sitting here.”
Maverick McNealy posted a bogey-free 66 and captured third at 11 under. Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (67) and Sam Burns (68) tied for fourth at 10 under.
MacIntyre hit only half of the fairways and the greens in regulation and did not make a birdie until the par-5 No. 16.
The first hole saw a two-shot swing, as Scheffler played it perfectly for a birdie and MacIntyre missed the fairway, the green and the 7-foot par save.
MacIntyre unraveled. He missed the green in regulation again at Nos. 2 and 5 and failed to save par. The third bogey created a tie with Scheffler at 13 under, and two holes later, Scheffler knocked in a 6-footer for birdie and the outright lead.
Scheffler stuck his approach at the 11th to 3 feet for an easy birdie. His putter acted up on him at Nos. 12 and 14, leading to bogeys from close range, but MacIntyre dropped another shot after missing the green at the par-3 13th.
MacIntyre later called his start “horrific” and said he expected he’d perform Sunday as well as he had Thursday through Saturday, when he shot rounds of 62, 64 and 68.
“Right now I want to go and smash up my golf clubs, to be honest with you,” MacIntyre said.
At the conclusion of the BMW, the top 30 in the FedEx Cup points race advanced to the Tour Championship. Akshay Bhatia secured the 30th and final spot, while Michael Kim and Rickie Fowler were the first two men out after fading late on Sunday.
Both Kim and Fowler were projected inside the top 30 at different points on Sunday, but Fowler had a bogey-double bogey stretch and Kim made two bogeys over his final five holes. Fowler (69) tied for seventh at 7 under with Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg (73) and Norway’s Viktor Hovland (69), and Kim (70) placed 10th at 6 under.
Meanwhile, the only player who moved in from outside the top 30 was Englishman Harry Hall. He leapt from 45th to 26th by placing sixth at 8 under par.
“Definitely tee to green I’m swinging it a lot better thanks to (coach Butch Harmon),” Hall said. “Been working a lot on my mental game. Just doing some work there. I think that’s been the consistency for me just in my decision-making, not so much my quality of golf shots.”
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
