Scottie Scheffler was relentless as the World No.1 conjured up a scintillating, bogey-free final round to claim the Hero World Challenge title with ease at the Albany course on Sunday.
The ninth triumph of the year not only made the American richer by $ 1 million but he also became the third player — after tournament host Tiger Woods (2006 & 2007) and Viktor Hovland (2021 & 2022) — to retain the beautiful trophy.
Starting the day a stroke behind Justin Thomas, the 28-year-old drove with aplomb and putted with precision, returning a card of 63 for a four-round total of 25-under 263 and winning by a whopping six strokes ahead of Tom Kim who continued his good work from Saturday with a 68, despite two bogeys to go with six birdies.
Thomas kept pace with Scheffler initially, but some close misses for birdies and four bogeys scuttled his chances of breaking his winless drought. He signed off with a 270 for a third-place finish.
Debutant Indian-American Akshay Bhatia (69) was fourth with a 15-under while Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley (71) rounded up the top five, a further stroke behind.
“It’s been a great year, it’s been a fun year. I’ve been fortunate to get some wins out of some really good golf. This was another week where I played really solid and was able to see some nice results from that,” said Scheffler as he signed off the season on a high.
(The writer is in Nassau at the invitation of Hero MotoCorp)
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