Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 golfer in the world, played two bogey-free rounds to nearly erase an improbable 12-shot deficit at the Masters over the weekend, but he made it clear that he wasn’t thrilled with the conditions at Augusta National on Friday as he fell down the leaderboard.
“I’m not in charge of course setup,” Scheffler told reporters after a 4-under round Sunday gave him a second-place finish, one shot behind Rory McIlroy.
“I would’ve liked it to have been a little bit more equal in terms of the firmness on Thursday and Friday. I was a bit surprised at how soft things were on Friday afternoon, especially as it got late in the day. But the weather also changes, like it was a bit windy on Thursday.
“So who knows, it’s just, that’s part of the game. We play an outdoor sport, and you don’t know how conditions are gonna change — especially course conditions. Overall, like I said, just Friday for me, going out early, not being able to shoot an under-par round, that definitely hurt my chances. I think I started the weekend maybe 12 back, so to get within one was a pretty good run.”
Scheffler teed off Thursday afternoon during the first round, but then he started with a morning group Friday and collected a two-over 74 — watching as McIlroy built a sizeable advantage heading into the weekend with his seven-under 65 in the afternoon Friday.
A seven-under round of his own Saturday put Scheffler back within striking distance, and then he nearly ripped off three consecutive birdies on holes 15, 16 and 17 to move close to McIlroy, but his final putt just missed.
That day, Scheffler said, “probably hurt the most in terms of my chances of winning.”
“We went out on Thursday afternoon were some of the most challenging conditions we had all week,” Scheffler told reporters, according to Golf.com. “I didn’t see many birdies out there Thursday afternoon, so going out on Friday, whatever they did to the greens to soften them up, they did some stuff, and I just wasn’t able to take advantage of that going on early on Friday.
“And then you saw the barrage of birdies that Rory made and Cam Young and a bunch of guys made on Friday late in the day, and I think I finished maybe two over par on Friday. So that day probably hurt the most in terms of my chances to win.”
Scheffler became the first golfer since 1942 to play consecutive bogey-free rounds during the weekend at the Masters.
But he was unable to translate his furious rally into a third green jacket, instead watching as McIlroy survived a brutal tee shot at the 18th hole to win a second consecutive Masters — the first repeat champion at Augusta National since Tiger Woods in 2001 and ’02.
