Record setter: Scottie Scheffler wins CJ Cup Byron Nelson in a rout

USA Today

04-05-2025

Record setter: Scottie Scheffler wins CJ Cup Byron Nelson in a rout
There's no place like home to win for the first time this season.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler clicked his heels and reminded everyone who's the sheriff on the PGA Tour with a relentless performance at his hometown event, the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Scheffler fired a final-round 8-under 63 at TPC Craig Ranch in the Dallas suburb of McKinney, Texas, on Sunday to win by eight strokes over Erik van Rooyen. Twenty-two years ago, Scheffler had his picture taken with Nelson, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, at this event. Eleven years later, he made his PGA Tour debut at this event, making the cut, and has supported the event ever since with the exception of last year when he was awaiting the birth of his first child.
'This tournament has been good to me over the years,' Scheffler said. 'It was my first professional start in 2014. They gave me a spot when I was in high school. Had a great week. This tournament means a lot to me. I grew up coming out here to watch."
Scheffler, 28, set a host of tournament records along the way, including a 72-hole scoring mark of 31-under 253, which also tied the Tour's all-time 72-hole scoring mark.
'It doesn't matter where you're playing if you're pushing it past 30 under that's absolutely ridiculous, and that's what he's doing,' Jordan Spieth said.
Scheffler collected his 14th Tour title and his first official victory since the Tour Championship in Augusta. (He also won the Hero World Challenge, an official event, in December.) But Scheffler injured his right hand in a freak accident on Christmas while making ravioli. He required surgery and missed a couple of early-season events. He recorded five top-10 finishes, including a second place at the Texas Children's Houston Open, and hadn't finished outside the top 25 in eight starts this season, but hadn't tasted victory.
Scheffler went wire-to-wire, opening with 10-under 61, following it up with 63 and admittedly lacking his 'A' game on Saturday shot a ho-hum 66. The last golfer to have an eight-shot lead on the PGA Tour through 54 holes? Rory McIlroy at the 2011 U.S. Open.
'(Scottie's) the best player in the world for a reason,' said Adam Schenk, who finished T-5. 'I try to think of a situation where it's an advantage to me to catch up to him tomorrow and I really can't come up with one – unless I just make a whole bunch of putts.'
With the exception of bogeys at the third and 17th holes, Scheffler never took his foot off the gas and continued his birdie binge, dropping circles on the card at four of the first seven holes. At the par-5 ninth, Scheffler added a 21-foot eagle for good measure. Van Rooyen, a South African, eagled No. 9 to shoot 30 on the front but didn't trim his deficit. He holed a 56-foot eagle at No. 14 to shoot 8-under 63 and win the tournament's 'B flight.'
Scheffler was unstoppable, making birdies on three of the first six holes to start the back nine. For the week, he ranked first in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, SG: Approach the Green and proximity to the hole. Scheffler made the game look as easy as the tournament namesake, who once won 11 straight tournaments. Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee went so far as to compare Scheffler's tee-to-green game to Tiger Woods in his heyday.
'I never thought I'd say that, I never thought I'd see that but tee to green he's Tiger Woods,' Chamblee said.
Scheffler's putter wasn't too shabby either, ranking first in the final round and fifth for the week.
Another hometown hero, Jordan Spieth, who battled the 36-hole cutline, fired a bogey-free 62 and finished fourth. But he still couldn't sniff Scheffler.
'He's just playing the golf he's played over the last few years,' Spieth said. 'He's hitting the fairway and then ironing it maybe better than anybody ever has and lets the birdies come to him. The courses become really easy once you have an average of like 10 feet for birdie. Golf becomes pretty easy. When he's like this and he's making putts, you have to somehow find an advantage over him.'
But at the CJ Cup, Scheffler was a man among boys and sent a message to Rory McIlroy and anyone else thinking of winning the PGA Championship in two weeks, that he's back and ready to do battle for more majors.