By ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France (AP) — Scottie Scheffler was a model of calm and greatness as he delivered the greatest closing round of his career. The final two hours were about charges and collapses, pure theater that ended Sunday, Aug. 4, with the Olympic gold medal fittingly draped around the neck of golf’s No. 1 player.
It was only when Scheffler stood on the top podium, when the final few bars of the national anthem belted out across Le Golf National, that he lost control.
The medal dangling beneath his right hand fixed across his chest, Scheffler raised his left arm to cover the sobs.
Tears are nothing new for Scheffler. His latest trophy brought out his very best.
Four shots behind to start the final round, six shots behind early on the back nine, Scheffler birdied five of six holes down the stretch and matched the course record with a 9-under 62 for a one-shot victory over Tommy Fleetwood.
“It’s been a long week. It’s been a challenging week. I played some great golf today, and I’m proud to be going home with a medal,” Scheffler said. “These guys played tremendous golf and I think we should all be proud of the golf that we played this week.”
It was a show-stopper, the best of the three men’s competitions since golf returned to the Olympic program in 2016 before 30,000 spectators that got their euros’ worth.
The remarkable surge by Scheffler, who shot 29 on the back nine. The relentless play of Fleetwood (66) and Hideki Matsuyama, who had birdie chances on the final six holes and had to settle for pars for a 65 to win the bronze.
And there was a stunning collapse by Jon Rahm, who saw a four-shot lead disappear in two holes and his hopes vanish with a double bogey; by Rory McIlroy, one shot behind until hitting wedge into the water; and by Xander Schauffele, the PGA and British Open champion who had a chance to win another gold until playing a four-hole stretch in 4-over par.
Not to be overlooked was Victor Perez of France, who hit the opening tee shot on Thursday and came within one shot of a medal on Sunday. He should know the lyrics to “La Marseillaise” if he didn’t already. Fans serenaded him on just about every tee.
All of them had a chance during this thriller of a back nine.
In the end, it was Scheffler — of course — giving the best performance of his greatest year. Already a six-time winner on the PGA Tour this year, including his second Masters title, Scheffler added Olympic gold to an astonishing season with a round that kept the sellout crowd on edge for a wild conclusion.
He set an Olympic record for 72 holes at 19-under 265.
Scheffler becomes the second straight American to win gold in men’s golf, following Schauffele in the Tokyo Games.
The only downer was Scheffler winning while on the practice range, mentally spent while preparing for a playoff that didn’t happen when Fleetwood missed the 18th green well to the left and his 100-foot pitch just missed the hole.
It was all such a blur that Scheffler didn’t even know where he stood.
“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 he finally got a look at a leaderboard behind the 16th green, Scheffler was in the fairway on the par-4 15th and hit wedge to a foot. That got him within one. Then came his tee shot to 8 feet for birdie on the par-3 17th. And the winner turned out to be an 8-iron he gouged out of the rough to 18 feet for a fourth straight birdie and his first lead of the week.
“He’s been piling up trophies left and right and he keeps moving away from what is the pack of people chasing him in the world,” Schauffele said. “When I take my competitive hat off and put my USA patriot hat on, I’m very happy that we won another gold medal.”
McIlroy, who ended his 10th straight year without a major, entered the mix when he began the back nine with five straight birdies. He was one off the lead, in the middle of the 15th fairway with a wedge in his hand.
“Missed my spot by nearly 3 or 4 yards and that ended up costing me a medal,” he said.
But he came away with a deeper appreciation of the Olympics, especially in the three years of rising prize money to fend off the rival LIV Golf league funded by Saudi riches.
“I still think that the Ryder Cup is the best tournament that we have in our game, pure competition, and I think this has the potential to be right up there with it,” McIlroy said. “I think with how much of a (expletive) show the game of golf is right now and you think about the two tournaments that might be the purest form of competition in our sport, we don’t play for money in it.”
“It speaks volumes for what’s important in sports,” he said. “I think every single player this week has had an amazing experience.”
That starts with Scheffler, who showed sheer brilliance with his best score of the year, a 62 that matched the best closing round of his career. He opened with three straight birdies to get his name on the board. He had a pair of 12-foot birdies early on the back nine.
And then Scheffler began to soar until he got on the podium and sobbed. He won The Players Championship with a five-shot comeback in March, another Masters title in April and four signature events on the PGA Tour against the strongest fields.
And now an Olympic gold medal.
“It was just very emotional being up there on stage there as the flag is being raised and sitting there singing the national anthem,” he said. “That’s definitely one I’ll remember for a long time.”
