Scheffler Claims Wanamaker, Cements His Rise Among Golf’s Greats

Scottie Scheffler slammed his hat on the ground and let out a rare roar with caddie Ted Scott as they embraced on the 18th green with long shadows of the late afternoon illuminating their winning celebration at the 107th PGA Championship.

Scheffler battled his way to an even-par 71 final round to finish 11-under at Quail Hollow. Despite a round that saw his lead erased at the turn, there was no doubt of his victory as he tapped in for bogey on the 18^th green to secure a five-shot win.

Winning the Wannamaker is Scheffler’s third major title, adding to his two green jackets from 2022 and 2024. His PGA Championship title came in his sixth attempt which included four previous top-8 finishes.

The 28-year-old seemed to make things harder than expected on himself on the front nine firing three consecutive errant drives to the left of the fairway and scoring three costly bogeys. At the turn he found himself 2-over and in a share of the lead with a galloping Jon Rahm at 9-under par.

WATCH: Scheffler Receives Wannamaker at the 107th PGA Championship

But, as Scheffler has so often done the past three years, he remained even-keeled, making a critical birdie on the par 5 tenth hole to reclaim the solo lead.

“It was a challenging day. Finishing off a major championship is always difficult, and I did a good job of staying patient on the front nine,” Scheffler said. “I didn't have my best stuff, but I kept myself in it, and I stepped up on the back nine and had a really good nine holes. That's about it.”

After embracing Scott, he made his way to the left of the 18^th green where wife Meredith held their 1-year-old son Bennett. Both embraced him and Bennett got into dad’s arms for the next few minutes as he walked around the property back toward the clubhouse. Bennett clung to dad as the Champion headed to finalize his scorecard.

Scheffler’s parents had also hugged him on the green and their beaming smiles and emotion said it all.

“Words can’t describe we just watched. I’m so proud of you,” Scottie’s father Scott Scheffler said as he hugged him.
In his post-round interview, Scheffler took a moment to honor his longtime coach, PGA Professional Randy Smith who’s the Director of Instruction at Royal Oaks Country Club where Scottie has trained under his guidance since the age of seven.

“It's tough to put into words what Randy means to me. He's a special man, and he's taught me everything about the game of golf,” Scheffler said. “This is a pretty cool moment for the both of us. I don't really know how to put it into words, but he definitely is family to me. I always described him as the fun uncle growing up. I could ask him stuff that I wouldn't necessarily ask my dad. He taught me a lot more than the game of golf. I'm looking forward to celebrating this one with him.”

For another mentor of Scheffler’s, his college coach from the University of Texas John Fields felt an immense satisfaction watching Scheffler’s win at home. And he just loves to see Scheffler’s talents getting the recognition he feels have been deserved.

“Scottie’s resolve to me, came from Randy Smith, in my opinion, and the desire to win in Scottie is just in such strong abundance. So, those two in combination have just been lethal.”

Scheffler feels honored to have won this title, now an astounding fourteenth top 10 in only 23 major starts.

WATCH: Highlights from the Final Round at Quail Hollow

“This is a special tournament. Any time you can win a major championship is pretty cool, and I'm proud of how I did this week just staying in it mentally and hitting the shots when I needed to. This back nine will be one that I remember for a long time”

And we’ll remember it well too.