McKINNEY, Texas — Scottie Scheffler cradled his son Bennett — whose birth was the reason he missed his beloved hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson tournament a year ago — and struggled to keep his emotions in check for a TV interview, just as he did a few minutes later during the victory speech.
The No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking had time to prepare for the moment because of the giant lead he took into Sunday’s final round at TPC Craig Ranch, and he even added a little drama by chasing the PGA Tour’s 72-hole scoring record.
Scheffler matched that mark of 253 — set by Justin Thomas at the 2017 Sony Open and equaled six years later by Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg at the RSM Classic — when he closed with an 8-under-par 63 to finish the tournament at 31 under.
The runaway victory came 11 years after his PGA Tour debut at the Nelson as a high school senior, and 22 years after a photo was taken of Scheffler, just 6 years old at the time, with the tournament’s namesake.
Scheffler, who turns 29 next month, couldn’t help but think about that day in 2014, when his wife Meredith — who gave birth to Bennett, the couple’s first child, on May 8, 2024 — was his girlfriend and his sister Callie, now a mother of two, was his caddie.