Scottie Scheffler and Cam Smith Are Ready to Give This Masters the Head-to-Head Showdown It Deserves
AUGUSTA, Ga. — You can’t always get what you want. Some philosopher said that, either Aaron Rodgers or Mick Jagger.
It doesn’t matter. So sorry, but this Masters Tournament won’t have the dream showdown you were fantasizing about, which would’ve been Tiger Woods against Anyone.
It will have the dream showdown the Masters Tournament deserves.
A duel is shaping up between Scottie Scheffler and Cameron (The Mullet) Smith, the two hottest players in golf. Scheffler, a young Texan, has won three of his last five events and vaulted to No. 1 in the world rankings. Smith, a young Australian trying to set hairstyling back two decades, one-putted 13 greens in the final round during his recent Players Championship victory and has established himself as the game’s best putter.
Somebody else could crash the party. The Augusta National Golf Club has a way of bringing soaring players back to earth.
It happened to Scheffler on the final hole. He let his left ankle roll over on his tee shot, a bad habit he’d kept in check until the final few holes, and powered his drive into an unplayable lie beneath a tree. After he took a drop, he ripped a long-iron shot just over the green and two-putted from the fringe for a consolation it-could’ve-been-much-worse bogey.
Scheffler began the third round with a five-shot lead and had been playing near-flawless golf. Saturday, his game got a little scrappy. He had six birdies and five bogeys for 71. That closing mistake left him at 9 under par, three ahead of Smith, who shot 68. Sungjae Im is five strokes back; Shane Lowry and Charl Schwartzel are seven back and Justin Thomas and Corey Conners, the only other players under par for the tournament, are eight back and eligible for the endangered species list.
With apologies to Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and the other name players who haven’t won in 2022, Scheffler and Smith are the new sheriffs in town.
They both seem unflappable. Even on that last errant drive, Scheffler calmly went about his business taking a drop while talking with a rules official during the process. The green jacket could be at stake on this hole if he makes a big number? Scheffler didn’t even break a sweat. (Technically, no one did. It was windy, cloudy and cold. Apparently, it was Handwarmer Saturday.)
Unofficially, Scheffler may be the coolest customer in golf since, well, Fred Couples, the all-time King of Cool. Check that — Smith is every bit as cool. He had eight birdies in the opening round, dropped a 74 on Friday, then rebounded with a second 68. This sets up as Scheffler, with the best overall game, against Smith, with the best short game, although Im, from South Korea, opened with 67 Thursday and can’t be counted out.
It is Scheffler who has the three-shot advantage at the starting line. All week, at least until the last six holes Saturday, the Masters looked as if it was going to be his fourth victory in six tournaments.
“One of the things I always struggled with was putting myself in this position enough,” Scheffler said. “I think I may have lost a 54-hole lead in Houston, but outside of that, I don't remember any other ones. So I've always just kept trying to put myself up there. I never really focused hard enough on Thursday and Friday, and I was always behind the eight ball going into Sunday. So for me it's nice to be in control of the golf tournament. And all I'm trying to do out there is be committed to my shots and execute. I'm looking forward to the challenge of tomorrow and, you know, just keep doing my thing.”
His thing has been making birdies. He has racked up 17. Smith has 16. No one else has more than 13. He played two good shots to set up a birdie at the 17th and push his lead back to four. That tee shot at 18 was the outlier in his round.
“Obviously, I didn’t hit a good tee shot,” Scheffler said. “No big deal—just be over there on the left and chip out. Whatever. Then we saw the guy with the flag that finds the balls kind of panicking. I was like, Oh, crap, what’s going on here? Fortunately, they found the ball.”
He considered trying to chip out from the bush but wisely took the safe route and took a penalty drop. The 3-iron that followed was like most of his iron shots Saturday—flush and on-line. It rolled right past the flag before it trickled over the green. It was the bogey of the day, if there is such a thing, and he’s still in the lead.
“It should be a great fight tomorrow” Scheffler said. “Cam is a tremendous player and he’s got a fantastic short game and he’s coming off a huge win at the Players. Both of us are in good form. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
There’s something ingratiating about the way Scheffler plays. He’s 25, a can’t-miss pro from the University of Texas who has suddenly hit his stride and he’s out there, even in a Masters, having fun. For instance, Saturday he was paired with Schwartzel, the 2011 Masters champion from South Africa. When Schwartzel holed out from the 10th fairway for an eagle, Schwartzel threw his arms up in the air in jubilation. He barely had time to pull them down in order to accept a bro-shake from a grinning Scheffler. Tiger Woods wouldn’t have done that.
Like Smith, Scheffler seems impervious on the golf course. He teed off with a big lead Saturday and missed the first green to the left. As he was about to play a delicate pitch, a car alarm began honking somewhere in the distance beyond the Augusta National boundary. Scheffler gave no indication he heard it and deftly chipped to a foot for a routine par.
Scheffler birdied the second and third holes and temporarily widened his lead to six. At the par-3 sixth, Scheffler dropped a nice iron shot right over the flag and faced a slick downhill 12-footer for birdie. When Scheffler was over the ball and about to putt, another car alarm broke the silence with annoying honks. Again, Scheffler ignored it and poured in the birdie.
He is the only player in the field who has shot under-par scores in each round. He may be the player to beat, but three shots are nothing given the hazards of the back nine on Sunday. Does Scheffler seem worried about that? Not hardly.
“It’s a lot more fun being able to sit here and talk to you guys (the media) versus being swept off and going to the range in 30th place,” he said. “This is a lot more fun than a lot of the starts I’ve had in major championships, especially around this golf course.”
Scheffler finished 42nd and 20th in his first two Masters. Smith’s last four Masters finishes have been 5th, 51st, 2nd and 10th. Give Smith the edge there. Im tied Smith for second in 2020 and missed the cut last year.
“For six weeks, Scottie has been incredible,” said Kevin Kisner, who lost to Scheffler in the recent World Match Play final. “After he beat me, I told him, ‘Enjoy the ride as long as you can because you never know when it’s going to come to an end.’ It looks like he’s heeding my advance pretty well.”
Sunday, one of these will show us moves like Jagger and finally get what they want — a Masters green jacket.