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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Scottie Scheffler took a page from golf’s greatest icons on Sunday, and left Augusta National leaving little doubt that he has everything it takes to join them one day.

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The 27-year-old Texan put on a master class of ball-striking while managing the golf course and major championship nerves to win the 89th Masters Tournament.

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“I will go home and soak in this victory and enjoy the birth of my son or daughter,” Scheffler said, dressed in his green jacket. “But I don’t plan on taking my eye off the ball any time soon.”

Scheffler shot a final round four-under 68 to reach 11-under par and win by four strokes over Ludvig Aberg. It’s the world No. 1’s second green jacket and second major championship, and a performance that proves, even in a fractured golf landscape, that he stands alone atop the golf world.

Tommy Fleetwood, Max Homa, and Collin Morikawa tied for fourth, seven shots back, at four-under.

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Scheffler and wife Meredith are expecting their first child at any moment, and the golfer said Saturday night he was prepared to leave the tournament on Sunday if he received the call from his wife.

“I’m coming home. I’ll be home as quick as I can,” Scheffler said in a televised message to his wife from Butler Cabin during the green jacket ceremony. “I love you and I’m coming home.”

The year’s Masters treated golf fans to everything Augusta National has to offer. The week began with the course at its most beautiful and immaculate after a wonderful early spring growing season. Then came two days of nearly impossible blustery conditions once the tournament began. That was followed by a sun-baked Saturday that showed what a fiery Augusta is capable of. On Sunday, players saw familiar championsnip pin placements and somewhat softer conditions that gave them a fighting chance.

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That is, until the ran into Scheffler.

As his nearest competitors fell victim to either Augusta National’s risk-reward nature, or the course’s intimidating aura, Scheffler seemed to summon Ben Hogan and borrow from Tiger Woods as he expertly navigated the infamous Amen Corner.

With two of his closest challengers finding water left of the green with their approach shots to the treacherous par-4 11th hole, Scheffler played a conservative shot right of the green, eliminating any risk of calamity.

Fellow Texan Ben Hogan once said, “If you ever see me on the 11th green in two, you’ll know I missed my second shot.”

Time and golf course changes have slightly changed that philosophy, but Scheffler wasn’t planning to risk it. It would be Scheffler’s only Sunday bogey on Augusta’s second nine but one that guaranteed his lead would be safe as he left the hole.

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One hole later, at the most famous par-3 in golf, Scheffler borrowed a target from Tiger Woods in 2019 and found the centre of the green, leaving a routine two-putt. In 2019, Tiger took control of the tournament at the beautiful Golden Bell when Francesco Molinari, Brooks Koepka and Ian Poulter found water. This year, Scheffler took control there after Homa airmailed the green and made double bogey.

In the end, it was a stress-free walk down the 18th fairway with a four-shot lead, and a tap-in par to make history, with the story of the day already written.

Scheffler’s story, however, is a work in progress.

As the late, great golf writer Dan Jenkins first wrote, the Masters doesn’t start until the back nine on Sunday. That famous turn of phrase was as true as ever at this year’s tournament, when at at 4:30 p.m. there was a four-way tie for the lead between Scheffler, Morikawa, Homa and Aberg at six-under par as the final groups finished up their front nine.

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An hour later, Scheffler held a three-shot lead and would never look back.

For Scheffler’s playing partner Morikawa, disaster first came at the par-4 ninth hole where the two-time major winner found sand with his approach shot from the pine straw and then failed to get out of the bunker, making double bogey. Two holes later, the dagger came when Morikawa found water at the 11th hole, becoming yet another casualty of Amen Corner.

Homa’s hopes also died at Augusta’s most famous stretch, or at least they got temporarily lost in the bushes. After a frantic search for his ball at the beautifully terrifying par-3, Homa took an unplayable lie and made a double bogey to drop to five-under, three shots back of Scheffler.

Playing with Homa was Aberg, the unflappable Swede who was playing U.S. college golf one year ago. Like Morikawa, Aberg fell off the pace by finding water at the 11th hole and making a double bogey. The 24-year-old Aberg was the only player to re-mount something of a challenge, with back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14.

But it was Scheffler’s day and is increasingly looking like Scheffler’s era, as the World No. 1 has two green jackets in three years and last month became the first player in history to win back-to-back Players Championships.

Scheffler’s tee-to-green statistics during this stretch amazingly rival prime Woods’ numbers, and now that the ball-striking maestro with the fancy footwork has fixed a crooked putting stroke he truly stands alone atop the world of golf.

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