Why Scottie Scheffler's Final Round at the PGA Championship Was His Best Ever

Scheffler didn't have his best stuff en route to winning the PGA Championship, but his longtime coach explains why it was the best round he's ever played.

Scottie Scheffler's coach, Randy Smith, said the world No. 1's final round at the PGA was his most impressive round ever. / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

In the final round of the PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler didn’t have his “A” game. 

“I just kept hitting it left,” Scheffler said moments after securing the Wanamaker Trophy with a final-round 71. 

But the world No. 1 was still able to win by five strokes for his third major title, making his round even more impressive. 

“That’s the best round he ever played in my opinion, bar none,” Scheffler’s long-time coach Randy Smith told SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio, “and there’s been some great ones, especially if you look back at the closing (final-round 62) at the Olympics and so forth and so on. But this round had everything in it. He was off, he knew he was off.”

Randy Smith has coached Scottie Scheffler since he was 7 years old, and said yesterday was the best round of golf he has ever played.

"He made a mid-course adjustment...once he knew he was back, the rest is history."

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— SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio (@SiriusXMPGATOUR) May 19, 2025

Scheffler played the front nine Sunday at 2 over, allowing Jon Rahm to briefly tie him on the leaderboard. But Scheffler made birdie immediately after making the turn and never looked back. 

“And the ability to go the No. 10 tee and (caddie Ted Scott) told him, ‘Aim more right.’ Well, that’s kind of a key,” Smith said. “He knew and he made a mid-course adjustment and he got instant gratification off the 10th tee.

“I mean, it was instantaneous. Just kind of squared his shoulders up a little bit, lined up a little bit better down the fairway, hit the shot, and that lit the fuse.”

At that moment, Alex Noren, Scheffler’s final-round playing partner, noticed a turning point, too. 

“He was fighting those misses to the left and then on 10 he freed himself up and let one go,” Noren told Skratch. “Then you could feel the momentum building. It’s not easy to change the whole direction of everything like that in the middle of the round. It takes a lot of toughness.”

Finding a way to win regardless of the circumstances is part of being a great champion. Heck, Tiger Woods has said he “didn’t really have it” most weeks, and won 82 times on Tour. 

And that’s what continues to make Scheffler arguably golf's most prolific winner since Woods.