If his last event of 2024 is any indication, the World No. 1 may pick up right where he left off in 2025.
Scottie Scheffler ran away with the Hero World Challenge on Sunday, shooting a bogey-free 9-under 63 to win by six shots over Tom Kim and 18 other players.
MORE: Final results, payouts from the Hero World Challenge
The Texan won at Tiger Woods’s event last December in Albany then ran off a remarkable year including seven PGA Tour wins with a major championship (the Masters) plus Olympic gold in Paris. The Hero World Challenge is an unofficial win though the tournament is conducted by the PGA Tour.
His last stroke-play event was Sept. 1 at the Tour Championship, which he won to secure the FedEx Cup and its $25 million bonus.
“Feels nice to take a little break and come back and continue to play some pretty solid golf,” Scheffler said.
Scheffler birdied four of his last six holes Sunday, including the 16th when he drove into a fairway bunker and playing partner Justin Thomas drove into the fairway. Just when it appeared the leaderboard may get a little tight down the stretch, Scheffler birdied and the 54-hole leader bogeyed and the tournament was all but over.
Scheffler ranked third in the 20-man field in strokes-gained putting, having turned heads at Albany while employing a claw-style putting grip on shorter putts.
Adding another trophy to the collection 🏆
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 8, 2024
Scottie Scheffler wins the Hero World Challenge. pic.twitter.com/QlnkrTCzpp
“Going into this week it was something I wanted to test out … you can always practice and do everything at home, but competition's just a slightly different animal,” Scheffler said. “Overall I felt like the results and the way I felt over the ball, I was really comfortable in competition and I was pretty pleased.”
He will remain No. 1 for the 82nd consecutive week this week, rising to the fourth-longest streak in the history of the Official World Golf Ranking. Tiger Woods holds the record with 281 consecutive weeks at No. 1, from June 2005 to October 2010.
Scheffler’s next appearance will be “The Showdown” Dec. 17 in Las Vegas, an exhibition where he and Rory McIlroy will play LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. He’s then expected to begin his 2025 PGA Tour season at the Sentry, a signature event in Maui that serves as the season opener.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scottie Scheffler Puts Final Mark on 2024 With Hero World Challenge Win.
