Scheffler pulls away to win PGA Championship for third Major title

Charlotte: Scottie Scheffler had every reason to worry the PGA Championship was slipping away.

A five-shot lead on the front nine was gone in four holes. Every shot seemed to go left and he didn’t know why. Jon Rahm was peeling off birdies and on the verge of tracking him down Sunday at Quail Hollow.

And that’s when Scheffler showed why he has been golf’s No. 1 player for two straight years, why he has compiled more PGA Tour titles quicker than anyone this side of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus since 1950.

And why he now has the Wanamaker Trophy to go along with two Masters titles.

Scheffler turned a tense Sunday into another runaway by not missing a shot when the pressure was at its peak, giving himself another pleasant walk to the 18th green with another Major title secure in the hands of golf’s best.

“This back nine will be one that I remember for a long time,” Scheffler said.

“It was a grind out there. I think at one point on the front I maybe had a four- or five-shot lead, and making the turn, I think I was tied for the lead.

“So to step up when I needed to the most, I’ll remember that for a while.”

There was nothing fancy about it, just fairways and greens and holing the putts that eluded Rahm in his first time in serious contention at a Major since he won the 2023 Masters and left at the end of the year for LIV Golf.

Rahm’s hopes ended when he failed to convert birdie chances on the two easiest holes on the back nine at Quail Hollow, and then finished bogey-double bogey-double bogey. By then the tournament was effective over. It only cost Rahm money.

“Just a lot of happiness,” Scheffler said later of his reaction to the second straight victory. “I think, you know, just maybe thankful as well. It was a long week. I felt like this was as hard as I battled for a tournament in my career. This was a pretty challenging week.”