Some didn’t expect Scottie to feature for a third tournament in a row. Some punters couldn’t see how he doesn’t win again. The now-beardless Texas phenom is easily the best golfer on the planet right now and it isn’t close.
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He crawls up the leaderboard on Thursday, cements himself there on Friday and makes steady progress all weekend until he’s inevitably there on the Sunday evening, an omnipresent figure on all leaderboards since what feels like years ago.
Instead, Stephan Jaeger was victorious in Houston, winning by a stroke only thanks to a misread from Scheffler on the 72nd hole.
Scottie Scheffler was this close to forcing a playoff in Houston. pic.twitter.com/bGWFjCBc2S
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) March 31, 2024
As well as gifting the field a couple extra strokes due to his rash finish on 18 on Friday (that ended his record-breaking consecutive rounds under par streak) – Scheffler made a few uncharacteristic bogeys over the weekend that allowed others to remain in the hunt.
He was no more than 2/1 odds in play from his 10th hole of the week until his 70th, and Jaeger remained calm to whisk the victory away from Scheffler, stopping him from completing the three consecutive victories on the PGA Tour for the first time since Dustin Johnson in 2017.
Jaeger has continued a fine run of form in 2024, having made 7 cuts and notching two T3 results already in the season. In Houston he finished a stroke ahead of Scheffler, Thomas Detry, Alejandro Tosti, Taylor Moore and Tony Finau for his first Tour title.
“I expected him to make it, and I’m not mad at him for missing it.”
Stephan Jaeger says he was ready for a playoff with Scottie Scheffler. pic.twitter.com/3c8LHyCj8D
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) March 31, 2024
Not only that, he held off the Terminator that is Scheffler at the height of his powers.
Cover Image via Golf Magazine
