AUSTIN, Texas - By now, winning should be old hat for Scottie Scheffler. His triumph Sunday in the Dell Technologies Match Play was special for so many reasons, and the new No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking couldn't hide it.
Moments after Scheffler closed out Kevin Kisner on the 15th hole to win for the third time in his past five starts, the 25-year-old Texan was overcome by tears and hugs, from his wife to his parents and sisters and pretty much everyone who could get a piece of him at Austin Country Club.
From his days a top junior player in Dallas to four years as a Texas Longhorn to his time outside the ropes at the Match Play watching the world's best, all Scheffler wanted to do was play alongside them. And now he's the one everyone is chasing as No. 1 in the world.
"I never really got that far in my dreams," Scheffler said at the trophy presentation, choking up and wiping away more tears. "I just love to play golf. I love competing. I'm happy to be out here, you know?"
The hottest player in golf now has the ranking to prove it.
One year after losing in the title match of this World Golf Championship, Scheffler never trailed against Kevin Kisner, building a 3-up lead through six holes and giving him no chance to catch up. Scheffler closed him out with a par on the 15th for a 4-and-3 victory.
Scheffler led the whole way in his 3-and-1 semifinal win over Dustin Johnson - he went the final 57 holes of the event without trailing - and was so solid in the championship match that Kisner didn't win a hole.
"I don't know if anybody is playing better than he is," said Kisner, who won the event three years ago and on Sunday joined Tiger Woods and Geoff Ogilvy as the only players to reach the Match Play final at least three times.
Kisner outlasted Canada's Corey Conners in a semifinal that went 18 holes, but Conner bounced back in the consolation match by winning the first three holes on the way to topping Johnson 3 and 1.
In the championship match, so much was going Scheffler's way that on the par-5 12th, he got too cute with an eagle chip that caught a slope and rolled into a bunker. Kisner had six feet for birdie, looking to cut the deficit to 1 down with seven to play.
And then Scheffler holed the bunker shot for a birdie.
Kisner had to make the putt to keep from losing more ground. By then it was getting late, and Scheffler went 4 up with four to play when Kisner bogeyed the 14th.
Scheffler is so good at blocking out so much around him that he wasn't even aware of the No. 1 scenario until Saturday. Jon Rahm, who had been atop the ranking since the British Open, lost in 19 holes in the fourth round. That meant Scheffler would go to No. 1 by winning.
That he did, looking every bit like the cool customer who won the Phoenix Open in a playoff in mid-February for his first career PGA Tour victory, followed by a rally to take the Arnold Palmer Invitational at the start of this month.
"Pretty cool to do that in front of my family. They've supported me so much along the way," he said. "I really don't know what to say about that. I don't feel like that. I don't feel like No. 1 in the world. I feel like the same guy I was four months ago, and I hope that doesn't change."
He is the sixth-youngest player to reach No. 1 since the world ranking began in 1986. He earned $2.1 million for the win - that's $5,736,000 for his last three wins - and will head to Augusta National next month as one of the leading favorites to win the Masters.
Scheffler joined Kisner as the only golfers to win the Match Play the year after losing in the championship match.
"I've thought about winning this tournament ever since last year," Scheffler said. "It left kind of a poor taste in my mouth getting so close and ultimately coming up short. So it feels really good to finish the job this time around."
Scheffler had to hold his breath in the semifinals Sunday morning against Johnson. He seized on Johnson's worst round of putting to build a 5-up lead through 11 holes, only for Johnson to win the next four holes. Scheffler was 1 up on the par-5 16th when Johnson missed a four-foot putt, and the match ended on the 17th.
The championship match was never in doubt, except to Scheffler. He was well aware of Kisner's record at Austin Country Club - 22-6-1 going into the title match - and his record rally from 3 down with four holes to play to beat Adam Scott the day before.
Kisner began the final with a wedge to three feet for birdie. Scheffler followed with a shot to eight feet, and the Texas crowd roared when he made the putt to match birdies.
Kisner lost the second hole with a bogey from a tough lie in the bunker, Scheffler went 2 up with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fourth and hit a beautiful chip from behind the green on the par-5 sixth to go 3 up.
They halved the next seven holes, each one moving Scheffler closer to the title.
AP photo by Tony Gutierrez / Scottie Scheffler hits his approach shot on the 14th hole at Austin Country Club during the Dell Technologies Match Play's championship final against Kevin Kisner on Sunday in Texas.Putts finally fall in
PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic - Chad Ramey won the windswept Corales Puntacana Championship for his first PGA Tour title, with the 29-year-old from Mississippi beating fellow American players Ben Martin and Alex Smalley by a stroke.
Ramey closed with a 5-under 67, completing a two-putt par on the par-4 18th after Martin missed a six-foot birdie try that would have forced a playoff.
"It was honestly like I always thought it would be," Ramey said of his breakthrough win. "It was very stressful, very nerve-wracking coming down the stretch, but I just grinded it out, kind of stuck to my process, stayed within myself and pulled it out."
Two strokes behind Martin entering the round, Ramey made four straight birdies on Nos. 13-16 to take the lead and parred the par-3 17th.
"I didn't change a thing, I didn't do anything different," Ramey said. "They just started going in."
He finished at 17-under 271, just ahead of Martin (70) - who led after each of the first three rounds as he sought a second career win - and tour rookie Smalley (65). Australia's Cameron Percy (67) and Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas (68) shared fourth at 15 under.
Because it was played opposite the Match Play event, Ramey earned an exemption into the PGA Championship but not the Masters.
This one's for Mum
DOHA, Qatar - Scotland's Ewen Ferguson finished with a flourish to win the DP World Tour's Qatar Masters.
England's Matthew Jordan and Pland's Adrian Meronk were the co-leaders after 54 holes and remained on top of the leaderboard for most of the final round at Doha Golf Club, but when they struggled in strong winds on the back nine, Ferguson produced a chip-in eagle and a birdie in his last three holes to emerge victorious.
Ferguson closed with a 2-under 70 and finished at 7-under 281 for a one-shot victory over Chase Hanna (71), a 27-year-old American. Meronk (75) and Sweden's Marcus Kinhult (71) shared third at 5 under, and Jordan (76) was another stroke back in a seven-way tie for fifth.
The 25-year-old Ferguson's first career win on the European circuit came on Mother's Day in the United Kingdom.
"That's for my mum. I know she'll be watching at home crying. Happy Mother's Day to all the mums, especially mine," Ferguson said. "My mum, dad, sister and brother and all my family gave me everything to try and get to this moment, and it's an absolute dream come true."
Playoff survivor
CARLSBAD, Calif. - Thailand's Atthaya Thitikul won the JTBC Classic for her first LPGA Tour title, three-putting for a bogey on the second hole of a playoff to outlast Nanna Koerstz Madsen.
After Koerstz Madsen's 15-foot bogey putt hit the edge of the cup and stayed out away, the 19-year-old Thitikul rolled her 10-foot par try close and holed out for the breakthrough victory.
At 19 years, 25 days, Thitikul is the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour since Brooke Henderson in the 2016 Portland Classic at 18 years, 9 months, 23 days. Thitikul also has two victories on the Ladies European Tour.
Koerstz Madsen, 27, lost two weeks after winning a playoff in Thailand to become the first Danish champion in LPGA Tour history.
Thitikul closed with an 8-under 64 and Koerstz Madsen had a 70 as they finished 72 holes at Aviara Golf Club at 16-under 272. Na Rin An (68) was third, missing the playoff by a shot.