Scottie Scheffler can do no wrong in Hero World Challenge title defense

The Hero World Challenge has always stood apart from the grind, the event’s carefree vibe owing as much to its dates (right before Christmas) as to its location (Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas). It’s also only 20 players, with no cut.

But for such an outlier, the Hero is also a vital piece of the whole and a bellwether for the game. Where are we? Where are we going? The Hero has answers. Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods have all won it and then gone on to win the FedExCup the next season.

All of which brings us to the latest Hero winner, Scheffler again, and what we might glean from his final-round 63 (25-under total) to beat Tom Kim (68) by six and playing partner Justin Thomas (71) by seven at Albany Golf Club on Sunday.

It was, all together now, Scheffler’s ninth win of 2024. Any questions?

“I've had a little bit of time to reflect,” he said, “but I'm not really sure how to assess it. It's just been pretty surreal; it's been a lot of fun. I'm just really grateful.”

He became the third to successfully defend his Hero title, after Hovland (2021-22) and Woods (2006-07), and capped a remarkable year in which he won from behind, as on Sunday, and from ahead. He won here and abroad. He excelled in stroke play and match play (3-2-0 at the Presidents Cup) just by playing his usual, airtight game.

“It’s just disappointing,” said Thomas, whose two-plus-year win drought continues. “I would have liked to put a little more heat obviously on Scottie going in the back nine.”

Instead, it was Scheffler who provided the heat.

Thomas duffed a chip and bogeyed the second hole, then lost his lead for good as Scheffler birdied the third and birdied again from nearly 50 feet at the fourth.

“Obviously playing with Scottie is very different,” said Akshay Bhatia (69, 15-under, solo fourth), who struggled to a 1-under 71 when he did so in Round 3.

Very different? Try impossible.

Golf is not easy, Scheffler said Sunday, but he is making it look so. He went out in 4-under 32 to take control, then set about building a cushion. When he birdied the par-4 10th to get to 21-under, and Kim, in the group ahead, three-putted to bogey the par-5 11th, Scheffler had a three-shot lead over Kim and Thomas.

With most any other leader it wouldn’t have been over; with Scheffler, the only question seemed to be how many he would win by.

The other question is where to put Scheffler on the continuum of greatness. He won seven PGA TOUR titles this year, among them his second Masters in three years. He became the first ever to successfully defend his title at THE PLAYERS Championship and owned the Signature Events, capturing four of them. He also won the Olympic gold medal in Paris, won the FedExCup, is the presumed Player of the Year, and now has earned his second Hero title in as many years.

The most obvious comparison for 13-time PGA TOUR winner Scheffler is 82-time PGA TOUR winner Woods, the Hero tournament host. Asked about golf’s new alpha on the NBC telecast, Woods said, “He doesn’t really do anything wrong. You see his footwork and all these contortions that he gets into, but his ball flight is very tight.”

At the Hero, Scheffler was third in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee, first in SG: Approach to Green, and third in SG: Putting. He was first in greens hit, Scrambling (12/14), total birdies (27), and bogey avoidance (2), and tied for third in Driving Accuracy (80.77%).

In other words, he was his usual self. The first to start and end the year at world No. 1 since Woods in 2009, Scheffler, like Woods, is distancing himself from the pack.

And Scheffler, like Woods, is doing so in part by all but owning the courses he plays well. Over the last three years, Scheffler has now won twice apiece at not just the Hero but also the WM Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, THE PLAYERS, and Masters Tournament.

What’s more, Scheffler, like Woods before him, has refused to stand pat even amid all those victories, finding innovative ways to improve from ahead.

Although Scheffler had improved his putting this year under the tutelage of Phil Kenyon, he was not great from inside of 10 feet, ranking 139th. Enter the claw, which he had tinkered with but hadn’t used in competition – until the Hero. Sticking with a conventional grip for long putts, Scheffler went with the claw from short to mid-range.

And it worked wonderfully.

“Competition's just a slightly different animal,” Scheffler said. “It was good to come out here and compete and play under pressure, play with the lead, play close to the lead most of the week, and I felt really comfortable.

“I would definitely assume that it's going to be there (for The Sentry) in Maui,” he added, of the season opener, Jan. 2-5. “I'll go home and assess the week, talk to Phil.”

The results, of course, speak for themselves. If the Hero acts as a sort of GPS for men’s professional golf, then the takeaway this time was as clear as ever: Scottie Scheffler is where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going. Still.