Masters win puts the rest of the golf world in Scottie Scheffler’s shadow

SCHEFFLER GETS REDEMPTION AT WGC-DELL MATCH PLAY, MOVES TO WORLD NO. 1 For the better part of two years, Scottie Scheffler held a prominent spot in the conversation of best player yet to win on the PGA TOUR. Pundits opined that once the 25-year-old University of Texas alum hoisted one trophy, more would follow. They were not wrong. Scheffler followed his breakthrough TOUR title at the WM Phoenix Open on Super Bowl Sunday with another win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard earlier this month. He arrived at this week’s World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play as the FedExCup leader and with redemption on his mind, as he fell to Billy Horschel in the 2021 championship match at Austin CC. The group stage wasn’t easy on Scheffler; after compiling a 2-1 record, he needed six extra holes against Matt Fitzpatrick to advance to the Round of 16. From there, though, it was full throttle. The New Jersey native extracted revenge against Horschel with a 1-up win in the Round of 16, then followed with a 3-and-2 triumph over Seamus Power in a Saturday afternoon Quarterfinal. Scheffler took down Dustin Johnson in a Sunday morning Semifinal matchup, and he polished off a sparkling week with a 4-and-3 victory over 2019 Match Play champion Kevin Kisner in Sunday afternoon’s Final, highlighted by a bunker hole-out birdie to tie the par-5 12th hole and maintain momentum. Scheffler closed out the match with a two-putt par on No. 15. He accrues 550 FedExCup points to extend his lead in the season-long standings, and he moves to No. 1 on the Official World Golf Ranking. Mississippi native Chad Ramey earned his first TOUR title at the Corales Puntacana Championship, recording four birdies in his final six holes Sunday at Corales GC for a 17-under total and one-stroke victory over Alex Smalley and Ben Martin. Ramey, who learned the game at a nine-hole public course in his hometown of Fulton, Mississippi, entered the week at No. 120 on the FedExCup standings and now moves to No. 34, earning 300 points for his efforts in the Dominican Republic. From thoughts of perhaps grinding this summer to keep his card, the TOUR rookie is suddenly exempt through 2023-24, and he earns a spot in the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions and THE PLAYERS Championship. TOUR HEADS TO TPC SAN ANTONIO FOR VALERO TEXAS OPEN It’s the 100th anniversary of the Valero Texas Open and the big-time milestone will feature a big-time field led by former FedExCup champions Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. Spieth is also the defending champion at TPC San Antonio. His win here last season marked his first victory on TOUR since 2017. McIlroy will tee it up the week prior to the Masters for the first time in eight years. McIlroy finished second behind Martin Laird at this event in 2013. Bryson DeChambeau is set to play the Valero Texas Open for the first time since 2017, when he missed the cut. Twenty golfers who are in the Masters field are playing at TPC San Antonio. TPC San Antonio plays host to the Valero Texas Open for the 13th time. Featuring just 100 feet of elevation, the Oaks Course boasts a traditional design that balances wider fairways with narrower tree-lined fairways for strategic options to the greens. If the winner of the Valero Texas Open is not yet qualified for the Masters, he will earn the final spot in the field. Spieth is looking to become the first back-to-back Valero Texas Open winner since Zach Johnson in 2008-09. The winner will pocket 500 FedExCup. VIDEO OF THE WEEK MIC CHECK “Even when I lost my card in 2018, I always kind of thought one year doesn’t make you a bad player, you don’t become a bad player overnight. Not when you’ve played on the European Tour for 15-plus years.” – Richard Bland on never doubting himself as he made his way into the knockout stage of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play. BY THE NUMBERS 22 – It took Will Zalatoris 22 holes to defeat Kevin Na in the Round of 16 on Saturday. 4 – Consecutive seasons that the final match in Austin featured two Americans. 63 – Final round score for Trevor Werbylo to get into a playoff and win the Lake Charles Championship. COMCAST BUSINESS TOUR TOP 10 The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup Regular Season as determined by the FedExCup standings. The competition recognizes and awards the most elite in golf.

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The waiter was busy taking their orders. When he got to Brady, Ben Crane’s 9-year-old son, the youngster simply held up a plastic Ziploc bag. Inside were two of the prettiest rainbow trout you’d ever want to see. “I want you to cook these for me,â€� Brady said. Those fish were the first he’d ever caught fly fishing. And seeing how excited his son was as he reeled those trout in may have been the highlight of the trip for Brady’s dad. “I was so proud of him,â€� Crane recalls, smiling broadly. And the fish tasted pretty darn good, too. That three-day fishing trip in Arkansas earlier this year was their first “boys onlyâ€� excursion. Joining Crane and Brady were Crane’s brother Tim and his son Elijah and their father Doug. The two left the day after Crane accepted the Charlie Bartlett Award given by the Golf Writers Association of America at its annual dinner in Augusta, Georgia. The award recognizes a player for his or her contributions to the betterment of society, and Brady – to his credit —  gamely sat through myriad of speeches that night. The two flew to Memphis the next day and then drove three-and-a-half hours to the White River where they settled into the cabin that would be their home for the next three days. The return trip was even longer, five hours in a car, but no one was complaining. The father-son bonding time was precious to the five-time PGA TOUR winner. “It was a long drive, which was actually fun,â€� Crane recalls. “He’s nine so now he can be sitting up front with me and I’m just looking over at him and just enjoying that, having that time together and playing some Michael Jackson songs, playing some songs that mean something to my childhood and stuff.â€� Crane says he and his wife Heather often talk about how quickly  their three children – Brady and his sisters, Cassidy and Saylor, who are 11 and 6, respectively – are growing up. This trip was an opportunity to put the brakes on, if only for a few days. “Heather and I always think about this season of life,â€� Crane says. “What would we give in 10 years to have this day back with our kids where they’re impressionable, where they’re learning and they’re growing? “We just want to be intentional about parenting them and teaching them the joys and the pitfalls of life.â€� Some of the stories Crane told his son were funny. Goofy, even – after all, this is the man behind the hugely popular Golf Boys videos. But others were more impactful – like the time a couple of little girls put a young boy struggling for attention in his place. “I was kind of bragging about stuff, whatever, and these girls, I walked into the house and they said, ‘Man in the mirror, take a look at yourself and make a change,’â€� Crane said, reciting the lyrics of the popular Michael Jackson song. “And it like crushed me like a little eight, nine year old kid. “I told Brady, I’m like, when we brag about ourselves it does not go well. Like other people do not enjoy hearing it. … But now I look back on it. I’m like, okay, they were sending a message that was hurtful, but it was a good one.â€� And while Crane says “it’s amazing to see your kids light up when you share personal stories of your childhood,â€� it was hardly a one-way street. And the two had such a good time together that when offered a choice between sports camp and a trip to the John Deere Classic with his dad, Brady chose the golf tournament. One thing the group didn’t count on during that trip to Arkansas, though, was Mother Nature. Turns out the weather was unseasonably cold for April. “We literally went through our suitcases and we put on everything, every t-shirt, every whatever …  because it was probably 40 degrees on the river,â€� Crane recalls. “So it made the fishing really, really slow and so it wasn’t normal. “So you had to tell stories. You had to bundle up.â€� Once in a while, though, the rainbow trout couldn’t resist those flies cast into the cold, clear water. So there was no need for any fish stories when the trip was done. The Cranes caught the real thing – in more ways than one.

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