[PHOTO: Andrew Redington]
As American baseball legend Yogi Berra once quipped, it was déjà vu all over again. Just like a week earlier at the Masters, Scottie Scheffler held the 54-hole lead at the RBC Heritage, Collin Morikawa and Ludvig Aberg were in pursuit and the eventual outcome was the same – a relatively stress-free win for the new Masters champion, this time at Harbour Town Golf Links, even if he had to work a little on Monday.
With nine holes to go Scheffler held a significant but not insurmountable three-shot lead. Bookmakers felt differently, posting Scheffler’s odds to win at a daunting -2,000 (meaning you would have to risk $2,000 to win just $100).
A quick review of his stats reveals the reason for wagering optimism. From tee to green he was simply dominant, ranking first in strokes gained/off the tee and first in strokes gained/approach the green picking up a combined 12 shots on the field. Scheffler also ranked second in greens in regulation.
Scheffler’s driver is an 8-degree TaylorMade Qi10 with a Fujikua Ventus Black 7X, not that Harbour Town requires a lot of driver tee shots. His 3-wood is TaylorMade’s Qi10 model, with 15 degrees loft. Scheffler not only used the clubs to pick up a bunch of strokes on the field, but hit plenty of fairways, too. On a course that rewards precision, Scheffler hit 45 of 56 fairways (80.4 percent) to rank third for the week in driving accuracy.
The few times Scheffler missed the green didn’t present a problem either, as he got up-and-down with his Titleist Vokey wedges 14 of 15 times to lead the field in scrambling.
Finally, Justin Thomas and Dottie Pepper had a bit of fun talking about Scheffler being the rare tour pro to use high play numbers on his Titleist Pro V1. Last year, Scheffler told Golf Digest the reason.
“I use high numbers – 5 through 8 instead of 1 through 4 – because it’s easier to identify,” he said. “I’ve just hit the wrong ball a few too many times.”
Not this past week, and not lately.
What Scottie Scheffler had in the bag at the 2024 RBC Heritage:
Ball: Titleist Pro V1
Driver: TaylorMade Qi10 (Fujikua Ventus Black 7X), 8 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 15 degrees
Irons (3-4): Srixon ZU85; (5-PW): TaylorMade P7TW
Wedges: Titleist Vokey SM8 (50, 56 degrees); Titleist Vokey SM9 WedgeWorks prototype (60 degrees
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour X X1
