Scottie Scheffler leaves Olympics with both gratitude and gold

The world No. 1 Scheffler has been blistering hot for months, winning six times, including a second green jacket, and only recently being overshadowed by Xander Schauffele, who clipped Scheffler for two major wins, at the PGA Championship and The Open Championship. The fact that it was Scheffler, and not Schauffele, that entered these Paris Games as the betting favorite to claim gold was telling enough; Scheffler was still the man to beat.

And though the flatstick did not cooperate early, Scheffler hung around, yielding putt-reading duties to his caddie, Ted Scott, midway through Friday’s second round and waiting for his moment to strike. With the leaders at arm’s length for much of the competition – four shots after Thursday, then five, then four – Scheffler nearly held on too long. Fiery Spaniard Jon Rahm came out running on Sunday, barreling through the first 10 holes with six birdies to speed four strokes clear of the field – and five of Scheffler. But Rahm suddenly imploded, all his momentum from a recent breakthrough LIV Golf victory and T-7 at Royal Troon seemingly extinguished in a matter of four holes.

Rahm three-putted the par-3 11th from 32 feet, then tugged a tee shot at the par-4 12th that led to a missed par save from 10 feet. Two holes later at the par-5 14th, the rare reprieve on Le Golf National’s closing nine, Rahm had to lay up just 92 yards after finding a juicy lie off the tee, and his 4-footer for bogey didn’t fall, capping a four-hole stretch of 4-over golf that saw Rahm go from a comfortable lead to a shot off the podium.

“I’ve been saying all week that I would know how much this means when the tournament was over,” Rahm said afterward. “Sometimes you know when you win, but you definitely know when you don’t win it, and this just stings on a different emotional level. Hurts right now more than I expected. It’s hard to let my country down in that way; had it under control and just let it go.”