Riding a six-birdie back nine at Le Golf National in Paris, Scottie Scheffler claimed Olympic gold with a final-round 62.
The win was Scheffler’s seventh of the season, which now includes a Gold Medal and Green Jacket. The victory also clinched the PGA Tour’s POY award.
The Texan, and current world no. 1, is on a run not seen since the glory days of Tiger Woods in the early 2000s.
More than halfway through the final round, though, Scheffler seemed like an afterthought, as Jon Rahm had separated himself from the field with five birdies over his first 10 holes to reach 20 under. Scheffler at the time was five shots back at 15 under with just six holes to play.
But when the Spaniard bogeyed 11 and 12, and double bogeyed 14, the gold medal was up for grabs.
Scheffler took full advantage of Rahm’s mistakes by carding four consecutive birdies on Nos. 14, 15, 16 and 17 to reach 19 under, good for a tie at the top with Tommy Fleetwood.
“I saw that Rahm had gotten to 20-under, and so I kind of changed a little bit mentally to just really try to do my best to move my way up the leaderboard, and at one point, I didn’t even really know if I was in contention or not,” Scheffler said. “I just tried to do my best to make some birdies and start moving up and maybe get a medal or something like that just because Jon is such a great player.”
When Fleetwood made a bogey on the 17th, Scheffler was alone at the top. The Englishman had a chance to force a playoff with Scheffler but missed a chip-in birdie on 18, giving the
American win No. 7 and a gold medal.
“I don’t really overthink about my legacy as a golfer, that’s not really something that comes to mind,” said Scheffler with a gold medal around his neck. “I love being out here competing. It’s one of my favorite things in the world to do and it’s a great joy in my life. I’m proud to be out here competing.”
With a score of 18 under, Fleetwood (66) won the silver medal, while Hideki Matsuyama (65) claimed the bronze at 17 under.
Rahm, who had a four-shot lead with eight holes to play, added two more bogeys on 17 and 18 to shockingly fall out of medaling at 15 under.
“I don’t know what the word is because, you know, I not only feel like I let myself down, but to just not get it done for the whole country of Spain, it’s a lot more painful than I would like it to be,” said a disappointed Rahm. “I’ve gotten the question, where this tournament would rank in my opinion or what I would think it would feel like to win, and I think by losing today, I’m getting a much deeper appreciation of what this tournament means to me than if I had won any medal, right.”
Associated Press content used to produce this report.
