Masters 2024: Following his second Green Jacket victory, Scottie Scheffler sheds tears.
Masters winner Scottie Scheffler acknowledges that golf is going to become less of a focus in his life, but he says his intense will to win means he will keep chasing triumphs.
At Augusta National on Sunday, Scheffler defeated Sweden’s rising talent Ludvig Aberg by four strokes.
Between now and the US PGA Championship, the major event that takes place next month, Scheffler and his spouse will welcome their first child.
“I’m not going to purposefully lose focus,” declared the American.
“I still love competing. I love winning. I hate losing.”
After earning his second Green Jacket, though, the 27-year-old’s attention shifted from golf to his heavily pregnant wife Meredith, who stayed at home in Texas.
“Going home is all I can think about. We are in a unique moment,” the top player in the world remarked.
“I’m going home to celebrate the birth of my first child and to bask in this success. It has been a long week without Meredith, so I am looking forward to celebrating with her.
“I’m going to shortly rearrange my priorities. Golf will now likely come in fourth place after my wife and son become my top priorities,” he continued, before discussing the part his Christian faith had in his triumph.
In addition to winning the 2022 Masters, it was Scheffler’s second major victory in as many events. He had won three of the previous four.
Scheffler has been the best golfer in the world since taking home his first Green Jacket. He led the field in nearly every statistic during 2023, and his only shortcoming was his well-documented putting issues, which prevented him from turning more of his 18 straight top-12 finishes into victories.
That all changed in March when he made history by winning the Players Championship twice in a row after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He continued to play well at the Masters.
With this triumph, Scheffler became the only golfer to have won the Players title on the PGA Tour and the Masters in the same year, along with Tiger Woods.
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In the final round, Scheffler held off challenges from Aberg, who was attempting to become the first debutant to win the Masters since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, and fellow Americans Collin Morikawa and Max Homa. Scheffler’s caddie, Ted Scott, who won this title in 2012 and 2014 with Bubba Watson, called Scheffler “a different kind of special.” “When he called me, I had no idea he was that good,” said Scott. “He doesn’t really have a weakness.”
Aberg is enjoying a meteoric rise in the game, having only turned professional 10 months ago. Since then, he was won events on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour and played a key role in Europe’s Ryder Cup victory over the United States in Rome.
Remarkably, this was his first appearance in a a major championship.
The 24-year-old briefly tied Scheffler for the lead after a phenomenal birdie putt at the ninth hole, only to see his hopes dashed when he found the water on the 11th.
He bounced back from the double-bogey to birdie the 13th and 14th holes and finish three strokes ahead of those in third.
“I was very nervous, shaking a little bit on the first tee,” Aberg said.
“We just kept playing even though we knew that hitting it in the water on 11 wasn’t ideal. That’s what our staff, including myself and my caddy Joe [Skovron], has been attempting to improve on. Simply continue playing regardless of what occurs.
“Being the world’s top player and a major champion is what everyone in my position aspires to, and I am no exception.
“Ever since I picked up a golf club, it has always been that way. This week confirms the existence of many of those items.
“Scottie has consistently demonstrated that he is an excellent player. He improves us and gives you the will to defeat him.”
