Scottie Scheffler had a strong shot at winning three straight WM Phoenix Open titles but putting mishaps prevented that from happening.
He came out firing on all cylinders Sunday morning to finish his third round. Scheffler made five birdies in a row to push him into contention. However, more putting woes down the stretch kept him from making history.
“I’m a bit frustrated. I didn’t finish the way I wanted to, but I gave myself a good chance this week,” Scheffler said. “Played a lot of solid golf, did a lot of good things. Obviously, I’m a little bit frustrated, I think, with how I finished, but outside of that, I gave myself a good chance, just wasn’t able to close.”
A bogey on 14 and 18, where he putted off the green into a bunker to close his third round were the first signs that suggested the three-peat might not come to fruition.
The Texas Longhorn had a short memory after he started his final round with four birdies in his first five holes.
However, a three-putt par on the 13th is when things went sideways for the No. 1 ranked player in the world. Then he made a bogey on 14 and settled for par on 15. Scheffler got to 5-under on his round at the 16th, but two straight pars left him settling for another Top 3 finish.
His T3 Sunday marked his 20th top-3 finish on the PGA Tour in the last three seasons. That’s still remarkable, three-peat or not.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
