CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Scottie Scheffler had every reason to worry the PGA Championship was slipping away late Sunday afternoon.
A five-shot lead on the front nine was gone in four holes. Every shot seemed to go left, and he didn't know why. Jon Rahm was peeling off birdies and on the verge of tracking him down at Quail Hollow Club.
That's when Scheffler showed why he has been No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking for two straight years, why he has compiled more PGA Tour victories quicker than anyone this side of Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus since 1950.
And why he now has the Wanamaker Trophy to go along with two Masters titles, having slipped the green jacket on for the first time in 2022 during his meteoric rise and then again two years later.
Scheffler turned a tense Sunday into another runaway by not missing a shot when the pressure was at its peak, giving himself another pleasant walk to the 18th green with another major title secure in the hands of golf's best.
"This back nine will be one that I remember for a long time," Scheffler said. "It was a grind out there. I think at one point on the front I maybe had a four- or five-shot lead, and making the turn, I think I was tied for the lead.
"So to step up when I needed to the most, I'll remember that for a while."
There was nothing fancy about it, just fairways and greens and holing the putts that eluded Rahm in his first time in serious contention at a major since the Spanish star won the 2023 Masters and left the PGA Tour at the end of the year to join the LIV Golf League.
Rahm's hopes ended when he failed to convert birdie chances on the two easiest holes on the back nine at Quail Hollow, then finished bogey-double bogey-double bogey. By then, the tournament was effectively over. It only cost Rahm money.
The only comfort for Scheffler was looking across the lake on the par-5 15th to see Rahm in a bunker, leading to a bogey on the 16th that gave Scheffler a three-shot cushion. Later, Scheffler would recall thinking: "If I birdie here, it's going to go a long way."
He drilled 3-wood shot just over the back of the green, and from the same spot where Rahm earlier hit that putt 12 feet by the hole, Scheffler cozied it up to a foot away for a birdie.
Scheffler closed with a bogey he could afford for a par round of 71, a 72-hole score of 11-under 273 and a five-shot victory. Scheffler became the first player since Seve Ballesteros -- the late Spanish legend Rahm dedicated his Masters victory to two years ago -- to win his first three major titles by three shots or more. Ballesteros did it at the 1979 British Open and the Masters in 1980 and 1983.
The margin doesn't match up with the grind. That much was clear when Scheffler raised his arms on the 18th green and then ferociously slammed his cap to the turf, a brand of emotion rarely displayed by the 28-year-old Texan.
"Just a lot of happiness," he said. "Just maybe thankful as well. It was a long week. I felt like this was as hard as I battled for a tournament in my career."
It was a lot sweeter than last year, when he was arrested before the second round of the PGA Championship (though he would make the cut and finish in the top 10) outside Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for charges -- later dropped -- that he wasn't following police instructions while driving as they investigated a traffic fatality.
No chance of that happening at Quail Hollow. He stayed close enough to walk to the course.
Inside the ropes, this was no walk in the park the final margin might suggest.
Scheffler had a five-shot lead standing on the sixth tee. But with a shaky swing that led to two bogeys, and with Rahm making three birdies in a four-hole stretch around the turn, they were tied when Scheffler got to the 10th tee.
It looked like a duel to the finish, with reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau doing all he could to get in the mix. Under the most pressure he felt all day, Scheffler didn't miss a shot off the tee or from the fairway until his lead was back to four shots.
Rahm wound up seven shots behind, but the two-time major champion was also the only serious threat. After that bogey on the 16th, he had to take on a dangerous pin at the par-3 17th. It bounded over the sunbaked green into the water for a double bogey. And his last tee shot went left off the grassy bank and into the stream for another double.
All that work to make up a five-shot deficit at the start of the day, and Rahm closed with a 73 to tie for eighth.
"Yeah, the last three holes, it's a tough pill to swallow right now," said Rahm, whose major breakthrough came at the 2021 U.S. Open.
"I'll get over it. I'll move on. Again, there's a lot more positive than negative to think about this week. I'm really happy I put myself in position and hopefully learn from this and give it another go in the U.S. Open."
DeChambeau birdied the 14th and 15th to get within two shots, but he never had another good look at gaining a stroke and bogeyed the 18th for a 70. He tied for second with Baylor School graduate Harris English (65) and Davis Riley, who overcame a triple bogey on No. 7 by not dropping a shot the rest of the way as he salvaged a 72.
"I'm baffled right now. Just felt like things just didn't go my way this week," DeChambeau said. "I drove it as good as I can. ... I gave myself a good chance. I just felt like a couple breaks went a different way."
J.T. Poston, the North Carolina native who also flirted with an outside chance, bogeyed the last two holes for a 73 to tie for fifth.
English finished his Sunday-best score as Scheffler was making his way down the third hole. He had a flight to catch that afternoon. He also was the clubhouse leader. But he looked at Scheffler's name atop the leaderboard and said with a smile: "I don't see him slipping a whole lot. I see myself catching my flight."
Surprisingly, though, Scheffler was suddenly unable to find his swing. He hit only two fairways on the front nine. He failed to convert birdies on the par-5 seventh and the reachable par-4 eighth. On eight of his nine holes, his miss was to the left. And he was tied with the red-hot Rahm.
But part of Scheffler's greatness is his ability to wear down a field, which he did both times he won at Augusta National.
"I hit the important shots well this week," Scheffler said, "and that's why I'm walking away with the trophy."
He picked up his 15th victory in just his sixth year on the PGA Tour. Dating to 1950, Scheffler is the third-fastest player to go from one to 15 wins on the ciruit, behind only Woods and Nicklaus, and even then just by a matter of months.
His victory comes a month after Rory McIlroy captured the Masters in a playoff to complete the career Grand Slam. The PGA Championship was always going to be a tough act to follow, and it didn't come close in terms of drama. But it served as a reminder why Scheffler has been No. 1 for two straight years, and why it will take a lot to replace him.
McIlroy made the cut on the number, shot 72-72 on the weekend and tied for 47th. It was his lowest 72-hole finish in four years in the majors. McIlroy, No. 2 in the world, declined all four days to speak to the media.
Scheffler came into the PGA Championship off an eight-shot victory in the CJ Cup Byron Nelson two weeks earlier, having sat out a PGA Tour signature event the week between his victories. And then he won a major by five. It was the first time since Woods in 2000 that a player won consecutive PGA Tour starts by five shots or more in the same season.
AP photo by George Walker IV / Jon Rahm reacts to his tee shot on the 14th hole at Quail Hollow Club during Sunday's final round of the PGA Championship in Charlotte, N.C.
Tradition not over yet
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Angel Cabrera and Jerry Kelly shared the lead at 18 under in the final round of the Regions Tradition when play was suspended for the day because of darkness.
They will resume play Monday morning, along with four others from the final field of 74.
Cabrera had three holes left and Kelly four to go at Greystone Golf & Country Club in the first major championship tournament of the year for the PGA Tour Champions -- with the second for the 50-and-older circuit, the Senior PGA Championship, set to begin Thursday near Washington, D.C.
Cabrera closed with a bogey on the par-5 15th, dropping the 55-year-old from Argentina to 6 under for the day.
Y.E. Yang was a stroke back with four holes left, with Steven Alker (with three holes to go) and Charlie Wi (four to go) at 16 under. The other player still on the course was Boo Weekley, who was at 11 under with three to go.
Kelly, 58 and from Wisconsin, is seeking his 14th win on the PGA Tour Champions and third senior major championship. He won the Senior Players Championship in 2020 and 2022.
Cabrera won the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational last month for his first win on the senior circuit, 20 months after he was released after spending two years in an Argentine prison for gender violence.
Cabrera, who won the U.S. Open in 2007 and the Masters two years later, was imprisoned for threats and harassment against two of his ex-girlfriends. He was released on parole in August 2023 and cleared to return to the PGA Tour Champions later that year.