Scottie Scheffler rallies from six back, wins Evans Scholars Invitational in playoff

GLENVIEW, Ill. – Scottie Scheffler rallied from a six-shot deficit to claim his first Web.com Tour title at the Evans Scholars Invitational. The Web.com Tour rookie defeated Marcelo Rozo on the second playoff hole at The Glen Club. Scheffler posted a final-round 9-under 63 to force the playoff and drained a 15-foot birdie putt on the second extra hole to capture his first professional win.

“It feels great. It’s been a good season so far and it’s nice to get my first professional win out here,” Scheffler said. “To get the first professional win is awesome, and it kind of gets the monkey off my back. Hopefully, it’ll lead to some bigger things to come this year.”

Scheffler, who started the final round six shots behind leader Marcelo Rozo, recorded birdies on his first two holes. He added another birdie on No. 5 and closed his front nine with four consecutive pars. When Scheffler made the turn, the University of Texas alum caught fire, and recorded birdies on Nos. 10 and 11 to start his final nine. After a par on No. 12, Scheffler added birdies on Nos. 13, 14, 15 and 17 and was suddenly at the top of the leaderboard. His bogey-free 9-under 63 matched the low round of the day, and tied the course record in relation to par.

“I hit a great drive on No. 10, I played it really aggressively today,” Scheffler said. “I hit a bad iron shot on No. 11 and chipped-in, so that kind of got me rolling. I made an awesome 8-foot putt on No. 15, that was one that really got the momentum going. I hit a great shot into No. 17 and had a tough up-and-down (for birdie) on No. 18 but couldn’t convert. I was fortunate that Marcelo made a mistake coming down the stretch.”

After playing his front nine at even-par, 54-hole leader Marcelo Rozo rallied on his back nine with birdies on Nos. 10, 11 and 14. Rozo recaptured the solo-lead with a birdie on par-4 15th, but gave the birdie right back after failing to get up-and-down on the par-4 16th. Heading to the 17th tee, he was again tied with Scheffler. Rozo failed to make a birdie on his final two holes and finished at 17-under 271.

On the first playoff hole, both Scheffler and Rozo had lengthy looks at birdie. Scheffler missed his attempt and left the door open for Rozo, who was also unable to convert. The two headed back to the par-5 18th tee box, to try and determine a winner.

On the second extra hole, Rozo’s approach shot missed the green and landed in the greenside rough. Scheffler stuck his approach from the fairway to 15 feet, leaving him a good look at birdie. After Rozo missed his putt from off the green, Scheffler had a chance for the win, and he delivered. His birdie attempt rolled in the center of the cup, and the comeback was complete.

“Marcelo got into a little bit of trouble on the second playoff hole,” Scheffler said. “I was just trying to get in position and get a look. It’s a good thing I made it, because I think he was going to get up-and-down for par.”

With the win, Scheffler earns 500 Web.com Tour Points and moves into second in The 25. With the estimated total of 830 Points needed to secure a PGA TOUR card, Scheffler has locked up his spot on TOUR next season.

The victory marks the first win by a Web.com Tour rookie in 2019. The comeback was even sweeter for Scheffler considering his string of near-misses. In his four previous starts on the Web.com Tour, Scheffler had recorded four top-10s, including a playoff loss at the Nashville Golf Open Benefitting the Snedeker Foundation.

“The guys are great out here; you see it every week,” Scheffler said. “With how deep the leaderboards are, I’m sure there were a lot of guys who had a chance to win today. You can’t take anything for granted out here.”