Turns out, Scottie does know.

No, Scheff, I didn’t imagine that the final round of the 2025 PGA Championship, the one where you had the four-shot advantage over a bunch of guys who had nowhere near your pedigree, would play out like this. I didn’t imagine that you would play the front nine in 2 over par, and drop into a tie for the lead with anyone. I didn’t imagine that your challengers, on the cusp of overtaking you, would fold like a proper napkin. I did imagine, in a parallel universe, that you would play the final nine in minus 2 to win your second major championship and third major title.

That’s the beauty of major championship golf, right? A sure thing is never a sure thing. A four-shot advantage in the hands of the world’s top player is not a guaranteed closure. To the credit of Harris English, he put a 65 on the board early in the day. He would ultimately tie for 2nd place, the best major finish of his professional career. It was a distant second but a second, nonetheless.

To the credit of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, they rode the English wave, rising to 9 and 7 under, respectively, as Scheffler was dropping to 9 under. They compelled Scott Alexander Scheffler to look Ted Scott, his caddie, in the eye (it might have been the other way around) and say, “That’s enough!” The dramatic PGA that everyone wanted had finally, after a prelude of showers, two days of muddy balls, and a parade of lesser-known professionals, delivered the emergence of the game’s top talents.

Sunday at Quail Hollow saw the English move, courtesy of a scorecard shaded red with seven birdies, against a solitary bogey. Harris shot 34 places up the leaderboard, thanks to his never-say-never attitude. At the same time, Alex Noren had started down a one-birdie road that would drop him from final tee time to a tie for 17th place. Perhaps it was Noren’s struggles that kept Scheffler from bearing down. He began the day with a bogey, followed it with a birdie, but lost two more strokes at six and nine.

Somewhere along that bumpy road, he caught the sight of Jon Rahm, moving up in the rear-view mirror. Not far behind was big Bryson. Rahm was looking for a third major championship to add to his U.S. Open and Masters trophies, while Bryson was on the hunt for something other than a U.S. Open (he has two.) As if those two visages weren’t enough, Matt Fitzpatrick (also a U.S. Open champion) worked his way to within a pair of shots, with most of the back nine left to play.

Those final four holes at Quail Hollow, from one perspective, make the other 14 appear irrelevant. It’s like a Carolina Barbecue version of Amen Corner. Negotiate the final 1700 yards of the course in par figures, and you should come out smiling. Let’s have a glance at how those four golfers with major wins came down the stretch

• Fitzpatrick  Even + Even + minus-one + plus-3
• DeChambeau  Minus-one + minus-one + plus-two + even
• Rahm  Minus-one + even + minus-one + plus-five
• Scheffler  Even + minus-one + minus-three + even

In total, that differential is a Scheffler plus 4 over DeChambeau, his closest pursuer among the elite golfers. Fitzpatrick was the first to tumble. He closed with consecutive bogeys at 16, 17, and 18. Take him to 8 under instead of minus 4, and Scheffler might have noticed. Next went DeChambeau. Birdies at 14 and 15 elevated him to minus 7, but he needed another two or three to put the heat on the leader. To his credit, he kept the ball in play and tied English and Davis Riley for second place.

Rahm’s demise was the most painful to watch. The traditional golf world grimaced when the mighty Basque eschewed the PGA Tour for LIV. In the best light, it was a naive, optimistic Rahm who hoped to unite the golfing rims. In the worst, it was a money grab. We had just seen Rahm add a Masters to his U.S. Open, and we had hopes that he would win the career Grand Slam, represent Europe in team play, and guide the tours to further greatness. Instead, it has been a bit less.

On sixteen, Rahm’s reliable fade did not fade from the tee deck. He chunked out of the rough to a greenside bunker and made bogey. Sensing the enormity, the desperation, the immediacy of the moment, Rahm found el lago desesperado for the second consecutive day. He’s never 100% comfortable playing a draw, and for the second straight round, he overcooked it. Double bogey, and the tournament was adrift. On the final hole, the fade failed once more, and the water was the again the result. Bogey-Double-Double was the finish, and a drop from I can taste it to a tie for eighth was the result.

And the winner? He played fifteen to near-perfection. Drive in the fairway, three-metal to the edge of the green, two putts for birdie, and the lead once more. Over the final trilogy, Scheffler wasn’t perfect. He found sand off the tee on 16, rough from the tee on 18, and missed all three greens in regulation. What he did do was avoid trouble, avoid liquid, and avoid big numbers. Scheffler’s putter, a question mark from 2018 to 2023, was his saving grace around Quail Hollow.

Most ironic is that Scheffler won the PGA Championship by five shots, his largest major margin of victory. His first Masters came by three, and his second, by four. Raise a glass of your finest vintage to Scottie Scheffler, the second major champion of 2025, on the occasion of his second of four Grand Slam trophies.