AUGUSTA, Ga.— Scottie Scheffler was asked Saturday about what it takes to reach back for something extra when the best is needed.
“That’s what great players and great competitors do is they’re able to rise to the occasion,’’ he said.
On Sunday, Scheffler was in position to win his third Masters, well within touch of the lead, and he simply couldn’t find another gear, losing by one shot to winner Rory McIlroy.
“Overall I’m not going to hold too many regrets, but yeah, definitely a bit disappointed now,’’ he said. “I started the weekend 12 shots back and ended up only one shot back. If I am going to blame anything, I should probably blame the first two rounds before I start looking at stuff from the last couple.
“I knew going into today I was going to have to do something special if I wanted to catch [McIlroy] and Cam [Young] and I was close, but just a few shots here or there.’’
Scheffler, the world No. 1, would not go away, carding birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 to get to 11 under par, two shots behind McIlroy at the time.
But Scheffler, who won in 2022 and 2024, failed to birdie 17 or 18.
“Obviously, if you’re chasing you’d like to sneak one [birdie] in there and I gave myself some opportunities,’’ Scheffler said. “Disappointing par on 13, and I wasn’t able to get it in the fairway on 14, that was a shot I’d like to have back but then good birdies on 15 and 16 and really great stuff on 17. I hit two really good shots into 18 and the second shot just came up short.’’
Still, he played the final two rounds bogey free, going 11 under par over the weekend after his slow start Thursday and Friday.
“I’ve competed against him for a long time, and you don’t win the amount of tournaments that he’s won out here without being pretty resilient,’’ Scheffler said of McIlroy. “Having a six-shot lead at Augusta is never easy, and losing that is obviously something difficult. But at the end of the day when you tee it up here on Sunday, he’s tied for the lead to start the day and had a solid round and did what he needed to do in order to get it done.’’
Collin Morikawa didn’t go home with a green jacket from the 90th Masters, but he went home a winner.
Morikawa entered the week as a serious question mark based on his back issue that arose when he had to withdraw from the Players Championship last month.
He significantly lessened his practice at the start of the week and didn’t know what to expect of his play. And he finished tied for fourth at 9 under par.
“This blew away any expectations I had for the week,’’ he said. “Honestly, for me it was just survive each day, wake up, do the prep I needed to do, and go and tee off on [No.] 1. I didn’t know how uncomfortable it was going to be, but we managed to get through all 18 and all 72.
“Trust me, it’s going to be one of the best tournaments forever. I’m going to remember this one for many reasons, but just more how strong the mind is, to be able to go out and convince yourself that everything is going to be OK.’’
