Scheffler’s emergence, Spieth’s cliff shot, Rory’s comeback: Season superlatives, 2021-22

We thought we knew how it would go.

We had no idea.

If there was a theme to the 2021-22 season, it was surprise. Scottie Scheffler hadn’t won, but then he captured the WM Phoenix Open in a playoff, opening the floodgates. Scheffler was the first player to win twice on the season, the first to win three times, and the first (and only) to win four. It all happened in a torrid six-week stretch in the spring.

Will Zalatoris also got in the win column, capturing the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He was suddenly FedExCup No. 1 and the favorite to win it all when the dust settled at the TOUR Championship, but he hurt his back and didn’t play again.

Defending FedExCup champ Patrick Cantlay captured the BMW Championship and could’ve taken the top seed to the TOUR Championship had Xander Schauffele not missed a putt on 18. Scheffler slid back into FedExCup No. 1; Cantlay suddenly started fighting his putter at East Lake; and neither ended up winning.

That honor, of course, went to Rory McIlroy, who came into the TOUR Championship with a six-shot Starting Strokes deficit, opened triple-bogey, bogey in the first round, and came all the way back to win it all. Of course he did.

Here are the superlatives from a very surprising season:

Shot of the Year

Matt Fitzpatrick, bunker shot on 18 at The Country Club, U.S. Open

With a one-shot lead at the U.S. Open, Matt Fitzpatrick watched his tee shot drift left and find the fairway bunker on 18. Going for the green was risky, as it meant clearing a grassy knob; Jon Rahm had tried it the day before and made double bogey. But Fitzpatrick, who all year had struggled from fairway bunkers, knew he needed to make par to force playing partner Will Zalatoris to make birdie. He chose a 9-iron and, without deliberation, caught the ball perfectly flush. It cleared the lip of the bunker and soared into the cool, darkening sky, and when it landed on the green, he had hit what Zalatoris called one of the best shots in U.S. Open history. “It’s one of the best shots I’ve ever hit, there’s no doubt about it,” Fitzpatrick said.

Best approximation of the Cal-Stanford Big Game

Cal product Max Homa edged Stanford’s Maverick McNealy at the Fortinet Championship in nearby Napa, California.

Best title defense

Viktor Hovland at the World Wide Technology Championship; Rory McIlroy at the RBC Canadian Open (picking up where he left off in 2019); Patrick Cantlay at the BMW Championship

Best (sort of) title defense

Fitzpatrick won the U.S. Open at The Country Club, where he’d also won the 2013 U.S. Amateur with his little brother Alex as his caddie.

Bravest shot

Jordan Spieth from cliff’s edge, 8th hole, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Spieth’s tee shot nearly tumbled over the 65-foot cliff that juts into the par-4 8th hole at iconic Pebble Beach. Then Spieth nearly did. Michael Greller, his caddie, voted to take a drop, but after some deliberation Spieth addressed the ball and took a lash before scurrying backward, away from danger. The shot missed left, but he got up and down. “Michael hated it,” Spieth said. “He tried to talk me out of it three times. I don't blame him, looking back. I'm just glad I made the par to make it worth it, because I don't think I would have made par with a drop, but if I made bogey, it would have really not been worth it.”

Most dynamic duo

Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and are expected to figure prominently in the Presidents Cup at Quail Hollow Club next week.

Dynamic duo II

Scottie Scheffler and Ted Scott joined forces at The RSM Classic last fall and hit it off in a way few player-caddie combos ever have. Starting with a playoff victory at the WM Phoenix Open, Scheffler won four times, including the Masters Tournament, in a span of six starts to become world and FedExCup No. 1.

Best comeback

Justin Thomas was seven back but won the PGA Championship. Sam Burns was also seven back but won the Charles Schwab Challenge. Rory McIlroy dug himself a 10-shot hole at the TOUR Championship, what with the Starting Strokes format (he began six behind Scottie Scheffler) and his triple-bogey, bogey start. To win after all that? Impressive.

Best comeback, II

Tom Kim quadruple-bogeyed the first hole and won the Wyndham Championship by five shots; Xander Schauffele shot the highest opening round by a winner, 72, at the Genesis Scottish Open. His 11-shot comeback over the next 54 holes was unmatched.

Best performance in the soup

Max Homa won his second Well Fargo Championship in sub-optimal weather (four days of cold rain) at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm.

Best, last stand by a 40-something

Chez Reavie became the only player in his 40s to win on TOUR for the entire season at the Barracuda Championship.

Most appropriate champion

Hideki Matsuyama, ZOZO Championship

Matsuyama became the greatest-ever player from Japan when he won the Masters Tournament last year, and thrilled his home country again when he won the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, Japan’s only tournament on the PGA TOUR, by five. It was his seventh TOUR title, second TOUR win in Asia, and first since the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions. He led the field in Greens in Regulation (81.94%) and co-led in eagles (2) and par-3 scoring average (2.75), and later won the Sony Open in Hawaii on the way to making the TOUR Championship for the 9th straight time, the longest active streak on TOUR.

Best of the Midwest

Tony Finau went from winless on the season to earning a spot on the U.S. Presidents Cup Team with back-to-back wins at the 3M Open, Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Wildest ace

Adam Hadwin, No. 16, Rd. 2, Memorial Tournament presented by Workday

When the ball dropped for his first hole-in-one on the PGA TOUR, the normally stoic Hadwin threw his club skyward, pumped his arms, and began slapping hands of his playing partners and fans alike. His wife Jessica tweeted that she’d never seen him so excited. “I think I kind of blacked out for a second when it went in,” said Hadwin, who used a 7-iron for the shot, which spanned 194 yards and came in from left to right.

Best flirtation with 59

Sebastian Muñoz became the first player to shoot two rounds of 60 in a single season at The RSM Classic and AT&T Byron Nelson, both in the first round.

Best use of a captain’s pick

Scottie Scheffler went 2-0-1 and beat Jon Rahm in the Ryder Cup. The result also foreshadowed perhaps the biggest story of 2022: The Rise of Scottie.