Scheffler comes up short and turns to Masters preparation as Korda completes hat-trick bid in Arizona
Stephan Jaeger reacts to Scottie Scheffler’s missed putt that gave him his first PGA Tour title
Scottie Scheffler came up just short in his bid for three wins in a row at the Texas Children's Houston Open as Nelly Korda pulled off her third win on the trot in the Ford Championship in Arizona.
World number one Scheffler was bidding to become the first player since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win in three successive OGA Tour appearances.
But after hitting a sensational approach to five feet at the 18th at Memorial Park, he missed his putt left and Germany's Stephen Jaeger claimed a one-stroke victory over Scheffler, Alejandro Tosti, Taylor Moore, Thomas Detry and Tony Finau on 12-under and a place in the Masters next week.
"I didn't think it was going to move very much and I tried to hit it straight and I feel like I started right in the middle and looked like it broke off pretty hard, so just a misread," said Scheffler, who closed with a two-under 68 and was left to rue a missed two-footer on the 18th on Friday.
"I put up a good fight, felt like I had some weird breaks this week. That's kind of the thing, it's tough to describe, but obviously, I'm a bit disappointed.
"I hit two or three really good shots into 18 to give myself a chance and I feel like I made the putt and I looked up and it was breaking off. So a bit disappointing, but Stephan played great this week and he's a deserving champion.
"Yeah, another good week, I gave myself a chance to win the tournament. That's where I want to be at the beginning of the week.
"And today was fun, obviously I wish it would have ended a little differently, but I hit what I felt like were a lot of good putts there toward the end, just couldn't get one to go in.”
To force a playoff ...
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 31, 2024
A narrow miss by Scottie Scheffler whose bid to win three straight falls one shot short pic.twitter.com/RMgjfQB7u3
Scheffler is not playing this week's Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, where Rory McIlroy will be looking to show form for Augusta National and Seamus Power and Pádraig Harrington will be looking for a win that would send them down Magnolia Lane.
"I'll move on as quickly as possible," Scheffler said. "Obviously I'm a bit disappointed right now. At the end of the day it would be one thing if I pulled it or something like that. I just misread it.
"I don't know why I misread it, it's part of the game. Maybe I could have hit it with some more speed, I felt like I hit a nice putt kind of how I wanted to, just didn't go."
Jaeger (34). who moved to the United States as a teenager, was a six-time winner on the Korn Ferry Tour before finally winning in his 135th PGA TOUR start.
He started Sunday in a five-way tie for the lead with Scheffler, David Skinns, Tosti and Detry and he was pinching himself afterwards.
"I couldn't have thought, dreamed up a better week to do it," Jaeger said after his final round 67 that included four front-nine birdies and a lone bogey at the seventh.
"Obviously playing with Scottie the last couple days, he's been on a tear, so to kind of slay the dragon a little bit this week was amazing. He's such a good dude, such a good player; I was just happy to play with him a couple days."
Jaeger's win brings the Masters field to 87 and while the winner this week can take the number to 88, nobody is expected to make the field via the world's top 50.
Meanwhile, world number one Korda closed with a seven-under 65 to claim her third straight win and 11th LPGA title in the Ford Championship Presented by KCC.
She became the first player since Yani Tseng to win three times before April 1 in an LPGA Tour season and the first since Nancy Lopez (who won five in a row in 1978) to win three LPGA events in a row.
The American won by two shots from New Zealand's Hira Naveed with Mi Hyang Lee, Frida Kinhult, Maja Stark, Carlota Ciganda and Lexi Thompson a shot further back in third at Seville Golf and Country Club.
"I think it was definitely one of my least stressful wins today," Korda said. "I just played really solid golf. Didn't make really too many mistakes, and if I did I just had a chip, kind of straightforward chip.
"Overall capitalised on the majority of my really good shots out there today and made some good putts as well."
Leona Maguire tied for 45th on 10-under after a closing 71 and now joins Korda in this week's T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards in Las Vegas.
Maguire was third in the Shadow Creek event last year, falling to Japan's Ayaka Furue in the semi-finals.
