Three Thoughts - 2025 PGA Championship

Scottie Scheffler wins his 3rd Major at Quail Hollow in another dominating runaway.

There was a moment on Sunday at the PGA Championship when it looked like we might have a real back-nine treat waiting for us.

It was just a fleeting moment, but it did happen.

Jon Rahm had birdied 8, 10, and 11 and had worked his way to the top of the leaderboard at -9, into a tie with Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler had scuffled along on the front nine, and after a bogey on the 9th, he had given two back and had dropped to -9 himself.

At that moment, 3:49 Central Time, they were tied at the top of the leaderboard, and given their very interesting rivalry over the last four years since their first real meeting at the 2021 Ryder Cup, we all settled in for what was a hopeful final two hours of battle and drama.

Instead, it would last roughly 12 minutes. Rahm would miss his birdie putt on 12 and, as he is making his practice stroke, there is a roar from 10-green. That roar, of course, was Scheffler making birdie right behind him. Scheffler leads again outright, and they would never see him again. He was gone.

I say, of course, because that is what Scheffler does at what must be a very annoying rate relative to his opponents. In fact, the great Justin Ray tweeted the following at 4:05 p.m.

Scottie Scheffler is now 6-for-10 in bounce back this week (making birdie/eagle immediately after a bogey or worse) - best rate in the field by far The field average is 17.6%.

Now, we all realize that the field this week is very large and does include some club professionals and such, but if the average pro is getting his stroke back on the next hole by making birdie following a bogey at a clip under 1 out of 5, then you can see the demoralizing levels that must be reached when Scheffler can get 3 out of 5.

He is just so good.

The thing about being good sometimes is the basic way you show it. You simply don’t “beat yourself,” and you don’t make mistakes when everyone else does. If you do, you don’t start stacking bogeys on top of each other.

Rahm would finish his round with a streak on the final three holes — “the Green Mile” — where he would go bogey, double-bogey, double-bogey to finish his Sunday where he was tied for the lead at the 12th green. Five-over-par over the final three holes would drop Rahm almost completely out of the top 10. Scottie Scheffler is probably not capable of that sort of meltdown. He is, as Kyle Porter suggested, golf’s Tim Duncan. He is so solid in his fundamentals, his mentality, and his emotions that you are going to die of old age waiting for him to give anything to you.

And that is why he is where he is today.

Scheffler has now won three majors — and his first since the 2024 Masters — with his five-stroke win over the field on Sunday in Charlotte.

And these are My Three Thoughts: