| Scheffler’s stunning finishing stretch on Saturday seals the deal at PGA Championship Saturday is usually referred to as the ‘Moving Day’ in golf. That’s the time when players jostle for a position close to the top of the leaderboard, thus giving themselves a chance to be in contention when the back nine begins on Sunday. At the PGA Championship last week, world No1 and eventual champion Scottie Scheffler did not move. Instead, he sprinted. As he reached the 14th hole in his third round, the two-time Masters champion was at 6-under par total – one of many around that number. While Scheffler did have the drivable par-4 14th and the par-5 15th coming up, he also faced the stretch of three holes that is called the Green Mile in golf – the par-4 16th, the par-3 17th and the par-4 18th. That’s when Quail Hollow mutates into Sleepy Hollow and becomes as terrifying as Tim Burton intended the place to be in his 1999 movie. The 16th was the third most difficult hole during the tournament, averaging a score of 4.327. The par-3 17th averaged 3.394 and was the second toughest hole of the golf course. But the one that troubled players the most was the 18th hole, averaging 4.407. It was so tough that the field made more double bogeys (48) than birdies (43). Among those on top of the leaderboard, only Canadian Taylor Pendrith (T5th) was sub-par for the three holes (-1). Joint runners-up Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau were both 3-over, while young Davis Riley escaped the wrath at even-par. World No2 Rory McIlroy, No3 Xander Schauffele and No4 Collin Morikawa were all 6-over par. It denied Jon Rahm a run at Scheffler. He reached the 16th tee as the only player with a slight chance to upset the American, but finished bogey-double-double to slip from 9-under par total to 4-under. Even if the Spaniard had made just one birdie in the three holes and set a 10-under marker for Scheffler, things could have been different. The Green Mile got to Scheffler as well. He was 1-over par in that stretch for the four rounds, but it was how he handled it on Saturday that made a huge difference to the outcome. He started the finishing stretch by driving the green on the par-4 14th hole and converted the three-footer eagle putt. He followed it with a regulation birdie on the 15th and then had a very good look at a second straight birdie on the 16th but missed his putt from 13 feet. Scheffler made it up with a 17-foot birdie on the 17th and closed with a brilliant second shot to nine feet to get to 11-under total. That made him 5-under for the last five holes, and virtually out of thin air, he had plucked a three-shot lead over Sweden’s Alex Noren. It really was extraordinary golf…as if he suddenly decided to turn on the turbo power and vroomed past his rivals. A three-shot lead in golf, with 18 holes to play, is as transient as a soap bubble blowing in the wind. But such has been the consistency of Scheffler over the past few years that you are almost guaranteed he’d protect it with impunity. It’s never over until it’s over, but that saying does not apply to Scheffler. DeChambeau, looking very good in a major championship once again, also fell prey to the Green Mile. Playing almost an hour before Scheffler, the LIV Golf star had reached 8-under par when he made crucial mistakes on the 16th (a three-putt bogey), and then a wet ball on the 17th led to a double. And I am sorry about being so bullish on McIlroy’s chances in this space last week, but that’s how golf can be. Predicting the winner of a golf tournament – even if all the factors portend a player’s success – is never a certainty like death and taxes. McIlroy obviously struggled with his new driver, which he had to put in his bag after his original one was deemed non-conforming to USGA/R&A standards. It created a bit of a controversy in the media, even though the world No2 did not speak about it. As it turned out, even Scheffler needed to get a replacement driver at the start of the week, but clearly, he handled the situation a lot better. The TaylorMade drivers that both players use are known to have a thin face, and repeated use can change the clubface’s character of any driver. As Scheffler said, it is not a big deal, but the USGA and R&A should make the process more transparent to avoid such situations in the future. | 
