Tee Time: 2024 Masters Recap
It's Scottie Scheffler's world, we're just living in it; plus notes on Ludvig Åberg, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and Tiger Woods
All day long, Scottie Scheffler was stoic. Even after birdies at the third, eighth, 13th, 14th and 16th holes, the 27-year-old kept his head down, plucked the ball out of the hole and moved on to the next tee.
But once he cleaned up his par on 18, closing out his four-shot Masters victory, the emotions spilled out. Scheffler, on the verge of tears, embraced caddie Ted Scott, then raised his arms up in the air and let out a triumphant yell. He was soaking it in.
Why wouldn’t he be? Scheffler is a fiery competitor, and has made a habit of keeping the pedal down throughout his meteoric rise, but winning your second Masters (in three years) is an accomplishment worthy of celebration.
“I love winning. I hate losing. I really do,” Scheffler told reporters Sunday. “And when you're here in the biggest moments, when I'm sitting there with the lead on Sunday, I really, really want to win badly.”
It’s hard to say which aspect of his win, which made him the first pre-tournament favorite since Tiger Woods in 2005 to win at Augusta National, was most impressive. Scheffler finished the tournament first in strokes gained: around the green and second in strokes gained: off the tee. As the course got firmer, and the wind kept pumping, he rose to the top, outlasting the likes of Ludvig Åberg, Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and Bryson DeChambeau over the final two rounds. He even tied the second-lowest round on Sunday, doing so as the 54-hole leader.
Ultimately, what stood out about his week was how he avoided the mistakes his opponents made. Through seven holes, Scheffler was tied with Åberg, Morikawa and Homa at -6, and his distance control — to that point — seemed a little off. But three straight birdies starting at the par-five eighth got him to -9, and the errors made by Åberg (a double bogey at the par-four 11th), Morikawa (double bogeys at the ninth and 11th) and Homa (a double bogey at 12th) gave Scheffler a cushion he would never relinquish.
“Around this golf course you have to stay aggressive,” Scheffler said. “You have to hit the right shots. There's no way around it out here. You can't play too defensive, and you can't play too aggressive.”
It was a performance that resembled not Woods' 2005 win, but his third Green Jacket in 2002.
Starting Sunday tied for the lead with Retief Goosen, with the likes of Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Sergio García chasing, Woods shot a fairly mundane 71, only to close out a three-shot victory thanks to the errors of those around him — Els tripled the par-five 13th, Singh made quadruple bogey at the par-five 15th, while Goosen and Mickelson each made three bogeys on the opening nine.
Sound familiar? Scheffler has all the tools to be a historically great player; his unique swing yields length and accuracy, his iron play is second-to-none and his crafty short game gets him out of jail. It’s his ability to meld all that with the discipline to take on one shot at a time, though, that sets him apart.
And it’s why he is the man to beat for the foreseeable future.
“He is pretty amazing at letting things roll off his back and stepping up to very difficult golf shots and treating them like their own,” Homa told reporters Sunday. “He's obviously a tremendous talent, but I think that is his superpower.
Other notes from the 88th Masters
Take a bow, Ludvig Åberg. It has been a quick ascension for the 23-year-old, who only turned pro last June after a decorated collegiate career at Texas Tech. Since then, he has won on the PGA and DP World Tours, and went 2-2-0 for the victorious European Ryder Cup team in September. He took it a step further, though, in his first major championship appearance at Augusta, finishing as the sole runner-up to Scheffler at -7. You read that correctly. In his first major championship, Åberg lost to one man: the clearcut best player in the world. His short game has some room for improvement (he lost 0.57 strokes around the greens for the week, 62nd in the 89-player field, per Data Golf), but his effortless power and ability to roll the rock will make him a factor in majors for years to come. Aberg told reporters Sunday that his solo second “makes me really hungry, and it makes me want to do it again and again.” Do not be surprised if he wins one of the final three majors of the year.
Is Collin Morikawa back? It had been a rough season to this point for the 27-year-old, with more missed cuts (two) than top-10s (one). But Morikawa, looking for his first major since the 2021 Open Championship, gave himself a chance to nab a third leg of the career Grand Slam with a Saturday 69. Two double bogeys — which, as Morikawa told CBS Sports’ Amanda Renner after the round, stemmed from him getting “greedy” — foiled his chances, but the two-time major champion still notched his best finish to date at Augusta with a tie for third (alongside Homa and Tommy Fleetwood) at -4. It’s time for Morikawa to start becoming a week-to-week factor again on the PGA Tour; keep an eye on him for the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2.
It was a disappointing week for Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka, two players still in search of a first Green Jacket. For McIlroy (+4, tie for 22nd), it marks yet another missed chance at the career Grand Slam. He may have seven top-10s at Augusta since his collapse in 2011, but given the magnitude and buildup every year, it’s safe to question whether the 34-year-old will ever win the Masters (gut feeling: he doesn’t). As for Koepka (+9, tie for 45th), this marks his straight time being out of the mix in a major — a rarity since he started this run in 2017. Koepka’s title defense at the PGA Championship will give him a chance to tie Woods with four Wanamakers, so the 33-year-old will surely be looking to fine-tune his game heading in.
Max Homa keeps cutting at the stone. After his first top-10 in a major at last year’s Open, he put himself firmly in the mix heading into Augusta’s second nine on Sunday. His double bogey on the par-three 12th, which can partially be chalked up to an unlucky bounce, ended his chances to win, but Homa said Sunday he “took a big leap” with his best-ever finish in a major. The stats show that, as the 33-year-old finished the tournament fifth in strokes gained: tee to green, per Data Golf. The more experience he gains in these spots, the greater his chances are to eventually nab that first major title.
Ignore his score for a second. The mere fact that Tiger Woods made the cut and finished 72 holes at Augusta is truly remarkable, given his current predicament. Woods, who finished in last among players to make the weekend at +16, faces a catch-22: he needs more competitive reps to get his game sharp for the majors, but doing so would put further strain on his already beaten-down body. Woods told reporters Sunday that he plans on doing his homework on Valhalla, Pinehurst and Royal Troon, but until he tees it up in the opening round of each, it’s worth utilizing a wait-and-see approach regarding his status for every major the rest of his career. Woods’ Friday round, a gritty 72 in blustery conditions, proved he still embraces the grind of major championship golf. It also saw him make the cut for the 24th consecutive time at Augusta, surpassing Gary Player and Fred Couples. But his 82-77 weekend was a far cry from his monumental victory at Augusta five years ago. In 11 major appearances since then (three pre-accident and eight post-), Woods has missed the cut four times, withdrawn twice and has a best finish of joint 21st at the 2019 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. He can still put up a “good fight”, as he said Sunday, for a couple rounds, but unless it’s a baked-out test at a flat Open course, it’s difficult to see Woods nab a top 25 in a major unless his current physical reality changes.
A look ahead
We don’t have to wait a month for another major. The LPGA heads to Texas for the Chevron Championship this week, with world No. 1 Nelly Korda entering having won her last four starts — the second American to do so in the last 50 years, per stats guru Justin Ray. Korda finished solo third at Carlton Woods last year, and is the deserving favorite. However, with stars like Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson and Leona Maguire in form — and world No. 2 Lilia Vu defending her title — it isn’t a Korda coronation just yet.
On the men’s side, the PGA returns to Valhalla for the first time since McIlroy won his fourth (and most recent) major in 2014. There, we will find out the answer to an ongoing question: can anyone beat Scottie?