McGinley hails thoroughbred Scheffler

Masters champion Scottie Scheffler of the United States is presented the Green Jacket by Masters champion Jon Rahm of Spain during the Green Jacket Ceremony after winning the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, Sunday, April 14, 2024.

Scottie Scheffler didn’t have his A-game at Augusta National but Paul McGinley reckons the American’s course management was key to a thoroughbred performance.

“When push came to shove, like a great racehorse coming into the last furlong, he just put his nose in front, went into overdrive and off he went,” McGinley said on Golf Channel.  “And as he did that, all of the guys made double bogeys around him, and the tournament was over.”

The Texan was ranked well down the field for approach play in Masters — his great strength — but he relied on his ability to plot his way around and pick his battles carefully to claim his second Masters title in three years.

“It was a supreme performance, but you have to say it was aided as well by massive mistakes by the guys chasing him at the wrong time for them and the right time for Scottie,” McGinley said of double bogeys for Collin Morikawa at the ninth and 11th, Ludvig Aberg at the 11th and Max Homa at the 12th.

“Again, this guy's not on his game. He's not playing his best golf. We know that. And yet, he's still a Masters champion. So you look into why. What is the secret sauce? And how does he get it done?  “He gets it done when there's a dangerous hole like 11, he misses the green right and he relies on his brilliant, short game.  

“I think he was ranked 24th for iron play this week, which is way down for him. So what he did was when it came to a dangerous hole, he bailed out and he relied on his chipping. He was the best chipper in the field this week.  

“So that's how he gets the job done. Then, when he gets a short iron in his hand as he did on nine and like he did on 10 (both resulted in birdies), that's go-time.  “And he took advantage of that and peeled off the par-fives as well, too. But when there was trouble, he played away from it and relied on his chipping when he needed to, particularly for the first six or seven holes.

“He missed a lot of greens those first six or seven holes, and was able to keep himself in the hunt. It was a brilliant performance in managing your game.”

Scheffler himself admitted his chipping was key.

“I would say the two aspects of my game that were probably the best were short game and driving,” Scheffler said. “I think probably short game being the most.”

Pointed to his par saves at the first three holes, he added:  “I think probably the short game was most important.”

Producing birdies when you really need them is also a sign of greatness and McGinley believes we are looking at something very special in Scheffler.

“Yeah, one of the most difficult things you can do in the game of golf is turn it on when you really need to do it and that's what we saw from Scheffer today,” he said. “He was not on his game compared to the high standards we know that he can play to and there he was last night leading the tournament.”