Just when Scottie Scheffler’s incredible 2024 seemed to have stalled, the world number one produced a course-record equalling nine-under-par round to emerge on top in a pure box-office final round at Le Golf National and add a Gold Medal to his Green Jacket and more than $28 million in on-course earnings.
Playing in the third-to-last group, the Texan had arguably the three best players in the world not named Scottie Scheffler to contend with, but birdies on each of the opening three holes were a clear statement of intent, but as has often been the case, the putter cooled over the following six holes and he’d miss four putts from inside 14 feet, the six-footer on the par-5 ninth the most glaring of these, as the momentum stalled and others streaked clear.
Jon Rahm was the most notable of these, as he and fellow two-time major winner Xander Schauffele matched each other with birdies on three and four, but the Spaniard kept the pedal pressed hardest and picked up more strokes on six, seven, nine and 10 to reach -20 and open up a four-stroke lead.
But just when it looked like the Gold Medal was destined for Spain, back-to-back bogeys on 11 and 12 opened the door again and Scheffler, Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy all found themselves back in the hunt for the most precious of metals.
The Holywood man had birdied two of his opening three but, like Scheffler, had stalled over the remainder of the front nine, but a pin-point wedge on 10 sparked a revival and he went on a tear, reeling off five birdies in a row to draw to within one as he found himself in the middle of the 15th fairway. With 140 yards left to a sucker pin on the front of a green guarded by water, his wedge was underhit and splashed short, leading to a crushing double bogey that sucked all the momentum out of him and he’d end up parring home thereafter to finish tied for fifth, two shots from the Bronze Medal position.
Almost simultaneous to McIlroy’s troubles, Rahm was having more issues as he was recording a double bogey of his own on the par-5 14th, and suddenly it was Fleetwood who was in pole position, but Scheffler had other ideas and after birdies on 10 and 12, had added two more on 14 and 15, before taking on the aggressive line on the par-3 16th and made it three-in-a-row.
Three became four when he birdied 17 to take the lead for the first time, but Fleetwood responded with a birdie of his own on 16 and the Gold Medal’s fate rested between the world number one and the oft-Bridesmaid Englishman.
When Fleetwood bogeyed the 17th after finding the rough off the tee and being a little heavy-handed with his chip from beyond the green, Scheffler found the putting surface on the 18th and despite being a little over-zealous with his birdie putt, held his nerve on the five-footer back to make the equation simple for Fleetwood; birdie the last, or settle for Silver at best.
A pulled approach shot from the fairway fringe left a downhill chip that he had an excellent run at but watched it slip agonisingly by. He did clean up for par to secure silver, and when Jon Rahm couldn’t get his own birdie putt to drop, Matsuyama was guaranteed the Bronze Medal as the Spaniard went from looking like a cert for Gold to outside the medals and joined McIlroy in T5.
Shane Lowry finished in a tie for 26th after closing out with a level-par 71, his third level-par round of the week, and had to recover from an opening double bogey.
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