World #1 golfer and daily GolfForever user Scottie Scheffler showcased unshakable confidence on Sunday, delivering a spectacular closing round that defined his career. The final two hours were a dramatic theater of comebacks and collapses, culminating with golf's top player earning the Olympic gold medal.
As Scheffler stood on the highest podium with the United States national anthem ringing in the background, his accomplishment started to sink in like his putt on the 17th hole to go to -19 and take the outright lead.
With the medal hanging from his neck, Scheffler clutched his chest with one hand and covered his face with the other, unable to hold back his sobs.
Starting the final round four shots behind, Scheffler staged an extraordinary comeback, making birdies on five of the last six holes. His 9-under 62 matched the course record, securing a one-shot victory over Tommy Fleetwood.
"It's been a long week. It's been a challenging week. I played some great golf today, and I'm proud to be going home with a medal," Scheffler said. "These guys played tremendous golf, and I think we should all be proud of the golf that we played this week."
The tournament, the finest since golf’s Olympic return in 2016, thrilled 30,000 spectators. Scheffler's back-nine score of 29 included relentless play from Fleetwood and Hideki Matsuyama, who settled for pars to win bronze.
Ultimately, it was Scheffler delivering the best final round performance of his transcendent year. With six PGA TOUR victories, including his second Masters title, Scheffler added Olympic gold, keeping the sellout crowd on edge until the end.
Scheffler set an Olympic record for 72 holes at 19-under 265, following fellow American Schauffele’s 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games victory.
The competition was so intense that Scheffler didn’t know his standing. "I saw that Rahm had gotten to 20-under, and so I kind of changed a little bit mentally to just really try to do my best to move my way up the leaderboard, and at one point I didn't even really know if I was in contention or not," Scheffler said.
"He's been piling up trophies left and right, and he keeps moving away from what is the pack of people chasing him in the world," Schauffele said. "When I take my competitive hat off and put my USA patriot hat on, I'm very happy that we won another gold medal."
Scheffler delivered brilliance with his best score of the year, matching the best closing round of his career. He began with three straight birdies and followed with 12-foot birdies early on the back nine.
He won The Players Championship with a five-shot comeback in March, another Masters title in April, and four signature events on the PGA TOUR in 2024.
Now, he adds an Olympic gold medal.
"It was just very emotional being up there on stage there as the flag is being raised and sitting there singing the national anthem," he said. "That's definitely one I'll remember for a long time."