Scottie Scheffler holes miraculous chip shot from rough to seal BMW Championship victory at Caves Valley
Caves Valley Golf Club was the site of this Scheffler masterpiece, where he overtook Scottish golfer Robert MacIntyre to win the BMW Championship after shooting 3-under on Sunday to take a two-shot win at 15-under for the tournament.
Scheffler's second-largest comeback win of his career would not have been possible without his mind-boggling chip just short of the 17th green.
It wasn't the best lie in the thick rough on the par-3 hole, but Scheffler's contact was perfect as the ball flew onto the green and started to trickle toward the hole. As the ball's pace continued, the line looked perfect as it kept tracking toward the cup.
Then, as it was letting off steam, it sunk and the crowd went wild as Scheffler got birdie in the most unconventional way. And in doing so, he sealed the victory over MacIntyre, who was visibly stunned by what he saw.
"Part of me wanted to go at the pin, and I kind of held off there on the left side," Scheffler said of his chip-in on the 17th, per Yahoo Sports. "I knew par wasn't going to be a bad score on that hole today. Anytime you hole a chip like that, it's pretty nice. It looked good when it landed, looked good when it was rolling, and it was nice to see that one go in."
MacIntyre was the leader entering Sunday, but he didn't help his cause by going 3-over in his first five holes. Meanwhile, Scheffler took the lead on the seventh green when he birdied his third hole of the afternoon.
Scheffler knew that par was going to be the winner on 18, and that's exactly what happened as he celebrated yet another victory on the PGA Tour.
This win on the final round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs was his fifth this season, marking his second straight PGA Tour year of at least five victories. Only Tiger Woods has been able to do that over the last 40 years.
Scheffler's 2025 season has included two more major titles, as he won at the British Open and the PGA Championship before that. With two Masters green jackets, Scheffler only needs the U.S. Open trophy to complete the career grand slam, which only six other golfers have been able to accomplish over their careers. Rory McIlroy famously completed his at Augusta National in April.
MacIntyre finished 13-under for the week, while Maverick McNealy finished in third at 11-under. Tommy Fleetwood and Sam Burns rounded out the top five at 10-under.
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Madden NFL 26 predicts 2025 season: Falcons, Super Bowl champs? Pass rusher with 31 sacks? Let's get wild
The NFL regular season may not kick off for a few weeks, but here at Yahoo Sports we're already in full-on football mode. For the eighth year in a row, we're running our simulated season, with Charles McDonald and Anthony Sulla-Heffinger reprising their roles as Madden Maestros. Usually, the results are a mixed bag, with last year's simulations absolutely nailing Jared Verse winning Defensive Rookie of the Year and the Titans securing the No. 1 pick with a jarringly accurate 3-14 record. We'll opt to leave it at that and not mention the Dak Prescott MVP or Ravens Super Bowl title that was predicted in both of our simulations. [Join or create a Yahoo Fantasy Football league for the 2025 NFL season] If you've been with us for a while, you know the rules. If not, here's a refresher: McDonald and Sulla-Heffinger each ran a full simulated season in Madden NFL 26, pulling out key takeaways and Senior NFL Editor Joey Gulino deciding which outcome is more likely. Super Bowl: Sulla-Heffinger: For the second year in a row, my Madden sim has the 49ers in the Super Bowl. After last year's sim predicted a loss to the Ravens, this year Kyle Shanahan finally gets over the hump and hoists the Lombardi Trophy, even exorcising his Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid demons with a 35-30 win over the Chiefs. Brock Purdy was the standout performer on the 49ers' side, throwing for four TDs and thoroughly outplaying Mahomes. Christian McCaffrey added 102 yards and a score on the ground while Isiah Pacheco found pay dirt three times. Naturally, Ji'Ayir Brown was named Super Bowl MVP, picking off what we have to assume was a crucial Mahomes pass. McDonald: Somehow, the Falcons, as a No. 6 seed, went on the road and dominated their way to a Super Bowl victory over the No. 4 seed Texans. Atlanta went on the road to Philadelphia, Tampa Bay and San Francisco before their Super Bowl victory, following an incredibly strong performance from Michael Penix Jr. — who had a breakout season throwing for 38 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in his first season as a starter, while finishing third in the MVP race. The Falcons defense was middle of the pack, but their elite offense kicked into overdrive and they were able to score points in bunches en route to a 31-24 victory over Houston, featuring Ray-Ray McCloud as an unlikely Super Bowl MVP. More likely to happen: Charles swears his sim wasn't just fanfic from his own head, but even so we'll go with the 49ers winning it all MVP McDonald: Josh Allen won his second straight MVP on the Madden sim, leading the Bills to a 10-7 record. Allen threw for 4,074 yards, 44 touchdowns with only five interceptions and he boasted a 72% completion rate. He also chipped in 417 yards and six touchdowns on the ground for a clean 50 total touchdowns on the year. Unfortunately, his year came to an end in the wild-card round at the hand of the Super Bowl runner-up Texans. Sulla-Heffinger: Fair or not, the NFL MVP discussion has basically become equal parts 'which QB played the best?' and 'whose turn is it?' In my sim, Bengals QB Joe Burrow won the award — justifiably — by leading the league with 5,152 passing yards and 43 TDs against just five interceptions. Burrow added 493 yards on the ground and two more scores, leading Cincinnati back to the playoffs as the No. 5 seed. Burrow led the NFL in both passing yards and TDs last year but didn't take home the award, finishing fourth behind Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Saquon Barkley, but Madden clearly thinks he'll break through that barrier this year. More likely to happen: Burrow, whose Herculean efforts to keep the Bengals competitive (see OPOY below) will be rewarded this season Offensive Player of the Year Sulla-Heffinger: Puka Nacua was an absolute force for the Rams in my simulation. Nacua, in his third year, took home the triple crown with 115 receptions, 1,713 yards and 20 TDs. This was the second year in a row my Madden sim predicted a wide receiver to win OPOY. McDonald: Chase did what he does best all season: torch defenses through the air. Chase caught 107 passes for 1,632 yards and 18 touchdowns (shockingly, only the touchdowns would be a real-life career high!). He led a receiving core that featured another 1,000 yard receiver in Tee Higgins, 983 yards from free agent signing Amari Cooper and 826 yards from Mike Gesicki. (The Bengals defense was so bad they somehow missed the playoffs with all this and went 7-9-1.) More likely to happen: Chase, because Matthew Stafford's potential back issues could limit Nacua's production Defensive Player of the Year McDonald: I have never seen this in a Madden season where every game was simulated: Somehow, Jaguars pass rusher Josh Hines-Allen was able to rack up an unreal 31-SACK SEASON and cleaned up on this award. For reference, Myles Garrett had the next most sacks with 19.5. After a quiet start to the season with zero sacks in Week 1, Allen had 13 sacks by Week 6 and finished with ELEVEN games with two or more sacks. He should retire and just take his gold jacket now. Sulla-Heffinger: Since 2019, T.J. Watt has played at least 15 games in six of seven seasons. In each of those he has finished top five in DPOY voting, winning the award once. (Steelers fans may or may not want to talk about 2023's results.) In my simulation, Watt took home the award by leading the NFL with 20.5 sacks and 22 tackles for loss. He also added two blocked kicks en route to his second career defensive crown. More likely to happen: Josh Hines-Allen's 31 sacks are so gloriously ridiculous we're gonna go with that Offensive Rookie of the Year Sulla-Heffinger: Considering Ashton Jeanty is the favorite to win this award at BetMGM (+260), Madden is playing it safe with this pick. Jeanty finished with 1,298 rushing yards (sixth in the NFL) and nine touchdowns. Factoring in his relatively light impact in the passing game (233 yards, three TDs) gets him over 1,500 yards from scrimmage and 12 total TDs, making him one of most impactful rookies in my simulation. We'll circle back to the Raiders in a little bit. McDonald: It was a fairly quiet year on the rookie front, with Bears rookie wide receiver Luther Burden III winning the award with 801 yards and 10 touchdowns. The touchdown number is impressive, but that's a pretty low number of yards for these awards. For whatever it's worth, Browns quarterback Shedeur Sanders really struggled with 11 touchdowns to 14 interceptions while Cam Ward put together a solid season with 3,409 yards, 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. More likely to happen: Jeanty, easy peasy Defensive Rookie of the Year McDonald: Jalon Walker had a breakout rookie season for the Super Bowl-winning Falcons with 14 sacks and 16 tackles for loss. He also included two more sacks in the Super Bowl and was a big reason for the Falcons' actually being a league-average defense. Sulla-Heffinger: 49ers linebacker Nick Martin was the winner for me here. Martin finished with 121 tackles, 5.5 sacks, two interceptions, seven pass deflections and eight tackles for loss, putting together a complete defensive performance. If this comes to pass, Martin could be in line to become the next great 49ers linebacker. More likely to happen: Walker, because somebody has to work out as a pass rusher for the Falcons eventually, right? Coach of the Year Sulla-Heffinger: Pete Carroll, who turns 74 during the season, orchestrated a remarkable turnaround in Las Vegas in my simulation, earning him his first Coach of the Year award. We're still not done with the Raiders. McDonald: Mike McDaniel was able to silence the haters and doubters with a bounceback 13-4 season from his Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins had the No. 2 offense in terms of points per game at 27.6, only behind Buffalo's 27.9. While the Dolphins clinched the first-round bye for the AFC, their playoff run came to a swift end at the hands of the No. 4 seed Houston Texans — who were also able to bounce Josh Allen and the Bills out in the first round. More likely to happen: Carroll. More on them in Surprise Team No. 1 pick/Worst record Sulla-Heffinger: Just End The Season. New York fans immediately know what I'm referring to with those four words. The Jets finished tied with the Arizona Cardinals at 5-12, but earned the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft by tiebreaker. After bringing in head coach Aaron Glenn from Detroit, the Jets had the league's worst defense, giving up 444 points and disappointing everyone in the virtual stands, including Fireman Ed. It's worth noting that the Cardinals were one of two teams to fire their head coach after the season, so at least the Jets have continuity on their side in that department. McDonald: The Saints had a season that many people are predicting for them, only winning three games and finishing with the worst record in the league. Spencer Rattler started all 17 games, but only managed to throw for 159.4 yards per game as the Saints were only able to muster 14.7 points per game. Tyler Shough was unable to push Rattler and now it looks like the Saints will be taking a quarterback first overall. More likely to happen: Saints, because we believe in Aaron Glenn Surprise team McDonald: Tampa Bay finished 12-5 and held the No. 1 seed in the NFC, which is fairly surprising. The Bucs' season ended with a home playoff loss to the Falcons in the divisional round, but they had an incredible season from their defense to get that far. They had the best defense in the league, allowing only 187 passing yards per game and allowing 16 points per game. Vita Vea had a 10 sack season, YaYa Diaby broke out with 12.5 sacks and Haason Reddick came back to life with a whopping 17.5 sacks for the year. Sulla-Heffinger: Jeanty won OROY, Carroll won COTY and the Raiders won the AFC West with a 13-4 record, tied with the Ravens for the best in the AFC and overall second-best in the entire NFL. In his first year with Las Vegas, Geno Smith turned in a predictable season (3,272 yards, 24 TDs, 9 INTs, 68%) and Maxx Crosby did his usual, racking up 17.5 sacks and being an absolute wrecker on the defensive line. Beyond Jeanty, rookie CB Darien Porter was tied for the league lead with four interceptions. Las Vegas was the No. 2 seed entering the postseason but lost to the Steelers in the wild-card round. Still, it would be a remarkable turnaround for a franchise that hadn't had a winning record since 2021 or won its division since 2002. More likely to happen: Rrraaaaiiidddeeerrrsss Biggest disappointment Sulla-Heffinger: I am going with a tie here. Both the defending champion Eagles and perennial AFC contending Bills finished 7-10 and out of the playoffs. For Philadelphia, the reason is very simple: Saquon Barkley got hurt. Barkley, the cover star of Madden NFL 26, played just two games, rushing for 188 yards on 22 attempts. Philadelphia's offense hinges on Barkley's health, so if that were to happen in real life it would likely be equally catastrophic. For the Bills, there were no glaring injuries and Josh Allen, despite not reaching his 2024 MVP heights, did finish with more than 4,300 total yards and 38 total TDs (28 pass, 10 rush). Buffalo's defense was third-worst in the league, however, allowing 416 points. McDonald: There were a couple teams to choose from here, including the Eagles who scraped by to a 9-8 record, but no one had a more dastardly season compared to expectations than the Bears in this sim. They finished 4-12-1 (their tie came against Cincinnati) and the Bears defense just fell off an absolute cliff in their first year under Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen. Caleb Williams actually had a solid sophomore season, completing 68% of his passes and throwing for 28 touchdowns and nine interceptions. However, it wasn't enough to overcome one of the worst defenses in the league that allowed roughly 26 points per game. More likely to happen: Sorry, Bears fans. We don't necessarily believe Chicago will disappoint under Ben Johnson, but *gestures at Bears for most of Super Bowl era*
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
'I just did not see this coming at all': Paul Azinger said of winning Payne Stewart Award
ATLANTA – Paul Azinger and Payne Stewart loved to play practical jokes on each other. Take, for instance, the 1993 Tour Championship when it was played at The Olympic Club during an unusually warm week. Each time Stewart dug into the water cooler on the back nine, he only found empty bottles and a note….that someone had scribbled his John Hancock to it. "It couldn't have been anyone but Zinger," Stewart told the Orlando Sentinel. "Every can would have some mean message about why there wasn't any water on it. 'Bone dry.' 'Where's the water?' 'I'm dying of thirst.' And every single one had my name signed to it." All these years later, Azinger confesses he did this dirty deed. "He's just got a devious mind," Stewart said. "He's a kid at heart, but a kid with a devious mind." So, too, was Stewart. When Azinger stunned him with a hole-out bunker shot that trickled into the hole on the 18th green at Muirfield Village Golf Club to steal the 1993 Memorial Tournament, he made a bee line to Stewart while they were still standing on the 18th green. "Payne, I'm really sorry," Azinger said. Stewart had held the lead most of the day. "It's OK, bud," Stewart answered. "That's part of it. That's the game." Azinger tried to console him again as they signed their scorecards. During his victory speech, Azinger expressed mixed emotion for breaking the heart of one of his closest pals and wondered if Stewart was back at his locker, shattered and choking back tears. But it turned out Stewart wasn't too broken up. 'I knew he was OK when I got back to the locker room and there were bananas stuffed up in the toes of my shoes," Azinger recalled. Not long ago, Stewart, who died in a plane crash in 1999 during the week of the Tour Championship, went 1 up in their back-and-forth game of pranks when his widow, Tracy, and son, Aaron, surprised him with news that he had been named the recipient of this year's Payne Stewart Award, which is presented annually by the PGA Tour to a professional golfer who best exemplifies Stewart's steadfast values of character, charity and sportsmanship. 'I just did not see this coming at all,' Azinger said. 'Gosh, I don't get tricked very often.' Azinger and Stewart, an 11-time Tour winner and World Golf Hall of Fame member, met in Hattiesburg, Miss., at what is now the Sanderson Farms Championship in 1982. 'I thought he had earrings in his ear,' recalled Azinger, who later learned it was a form of acupuncture. 'I became a better player the second I shook his hand.' Azinger grew up the son of a career military man, who served as a navigator in the Air Force, a lieutenant colonel who flew missions in both Korea and Vietnam. His mother, Jean, won numerous state and regional golf tournaments. When she was seven months pregnant with him, she played an exhibition match with Patty Berg and chipped in three times that day. 'To this day, some people claim I inherited my golf talent from her through osmosis,' Azinger said in his autobiography, Zinger. But the truth was more simple: he fell in love with the game by watching his parents and playing with them. Azinger had a strong unorthodox grip but the two most influential instructors in his career – Jim Suttie and John Redman – both refused to change it. During his first year at Brevard Community College, he was the No. 3 man on the 'B' team. But he worked hard at this game and by the time he returned to school for his second year he was the No. 1 player on the team. He moved on to Florida State, where he helped lead the team to its best season in school history at the time. Azinger still needed a little seasoning before he became one of the game's fiercest competitors. In 1985, when he led a tournament for the first time, he became so nervous he told his wife, 'If I have to be this nervous to make a living, I think I'm going to give up golf and do something else.' Later, he asked veteran pro Bert Yancey about those butterflies. Yancey's reply was classic. 'He drawled, 'Son, you want to welcome that chance to be nervous. You want to be so nervous you can't spit. Because if you aren't nervous, you are playing in the middle of the pack. And that's not where you want to be,' ' Azinger recounted. Azinger won for the first time at the 1987 Phoenix Open and could hardly spit as he went on to collect 12 Tour titles, none bigger than the 1993 PGA Championship. To say he was nervous during the sudden-death playoff with Greg Norman with a major championship on the line would be like saying the Titanic took on a little water. He told CBS's Jim Nantz about the neon flashes going off in his eyes every time his heart took a beat. His breakthrough victory that shed the label of best player never to win a major was expected to open the floodgates for Azinger but he soon would face an even bigger foe. Whenever Azinger lifted the Wanamaker Trophy, he felt a dull, throbbing pain in his right shoulder. Doctors eventually diagnosed Azinger with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer he beat after six months of chemotherapy and five weeks of radiation. While he returned to the winner's circle post-cancer, Azinger's diagnosis afforded him the opportunity to work in television in 1995 during his recovery, and he has made a successful second career as a television analyst, working most recently for the PGA Tour Champions. It was Azinger who donned a tam-o'shanter cap, like the ones Stewart wore on the golf course, and tucked his pant legs into his socks, to replicate Stewart's famous knickers, when he gave a moving eulogy at Stewart's memorial service after a jet carrying Stewart and five others from Orlando to Texas crashed into a field in South Dakota. Having shared a few stories of Stewart, who he called 'the life of every party,' Azinger removed his cap, paused and said, 'To try to accept the magnitude of this tragedy is the most difficult thing I've ever had to do.' Azinger, who played on four U.S. Ryder Cup teams and was the winning captain in 2008, is a most fitting recipient of the Payne Stewart Award. The only question is, what took them so long to honor him? He joins the likes of award winners Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and most recently Brandt Snedeker. 'To be named the recipient of this award, representing my dearest friend, is one of the proudest moments in my life,' said Azinger. 'Payne displayed the ultimate character, sportsmanship and service to others throughout his career. He set the standard for how to represent the game of golf, so to be recognized for this award is truly humbling.' Back home in Florida's Bradenton-Sarasota area, Azinger and his wife, Toni, give back through the Azinger Family Compassion Center in Manatee County. Opened in 2021 on the campus of One More Child, the 12,000-square-foot facility, which aims to serve vulnerable and struggling families within Manatee County, continues to make a difference in the lives of hungry kids, sex-trafficked children and working families living paycheck to paycheck. Over the past year, Azinger's non-profit has distributed nearly $19 million worth of food, clothing, household items and other needed supplies, and supported more than 190 nonprofit partners from the surrounding area. In Azinger's book, Stewart described him as 'a great friend, who displays courage and faith that people should strive to imitate,' all qualities represented in the Stewart Award. But just as when it came to delivering practical jokes, Azinger one-upped Stewart with this perfect description of his dear friend: 'If golf were an art, Payne Stewart was the color," he said. "Payne Stewart had style.'
CNN
3 hours ago
- CNN
Golfer says he ‘overdosed' on creatine during BMW Championship
American golfer Ben Griffin got the shakes at the BMW Championship – though it wasn't necessarily because of nerves, but rather due to swallowing a 'large rock' of creatine. World No. 17 Griffin said that he 'started getting super shaky' and 'felt like I had tremors' on Sunday after accidentally swallowing a large amount of the supplement. Creatine 'contributes to rapid energy production and may enhance power or speed bursts requiring short periods of anaerobic activity,' according to Harvard Health, and usage of the supplement is common among gym enthusiasts as there is evidence it 'can hasten muscle recovery after strenuous exercise.' 'I've taken it on the golf course before. It's fine,' Griffin said, per the PGA Tour. 'I started taking it after my second shot, and I accidentally swallowed one of the big rocks in my water bottle. I've never overdosed on creatine before, but I think I did in the moment because I didn't really drink any water after that. I basically just inhaled a snowball,' the two-time PGA Tour winner explained. Griffin said that he usually takes 15mg of the supplement daily, but on this occasion, he estimates he accidentally ingested that amount at one time. 'I was physically shaking like I've never felt before,' Griffin said. 'And I don't normally miss a lot of short putts. It was really a weird situation.' The golfer said that his caddie intervened by making him drink water and calming him down. Griffin was six over par for the first three holes – carding a triple-bogey, double-bogey and bogey – and the golfer thought about withdrawing from the tournament, but after that, he said the physical effects started to wear off. He then made seven birdies and signed for a one-under 69, finishing tied for 12th in an impressive comeback. 'It was probably more just a little bit flustered. I was fine after the second shot on two. And then it was – I felt good so I went about my day and got it back to under par,' he said. The golfer said he will be limiting his intake of the supplement in future, calling the events of the day a 'pretty crazy story.' 'I don't think I'll be taking too much creatine in the future. I will take it, but not in the amount that I probably did on the golf course, which wasn't probably a healthy amount.'
