Scottie Scheffler nearly erased a 12-shot deficit at the 2026 Masters, finishing one shot behind Rory McIlroy after a stunning weekend at Augusta.
Scottie Scheffler made a serious run at the 2026 Masters title, but his late charge at Augusta National ended one shot shy of Rory McIlroy in a dramatic Sunday finish.
The world No. 1 entered the weekend 12 shots back, then nearly flipped the tournament with a brilliant push that reminded everyone why he’s still the most dangerous player in golf.
Scheffler fired a 65 on Saturday and followed it with a bogey-free 68 on Sunday, making up 11 strokes on McIlroy over the final two rounds.
In the end, though, the gap from the first half of the tournament was just a little too much to overcome.
“I gave myself some opportunities,” Scheffler said. “Disappointing par on 13, and wasn’t able to get it in the fairway on 14, that was a shot I’d like to have back.
"But then good birdies on 15 and 16, and really great stuff on 17. I hit two really good shots into 18 and the second shot just came up short.”
Scheffler’s weekend was historic in its own way. He became the first player in 84 years to play the final 36 holes of the Masters without a bogey.
He also gave himself a chance to become the fastest player ever to win three green jackets, but instead had to settle for solo second.
For Scheffler, the frustration centered more on Friday than Sunday. His 2-over 74 in the second round snapped a streak of 11 straight rounds of par or better at Augusta and left him chasing the rest of the way.
“I’d say Friday probably hurt the most in terms of my chances of winning,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t see many birdies out there Thursday afternoon, so going out on Friday, whatever they did to the greens to soften them up, they did some stuff. And I just wasn’t able to take advantage of that going out early on Friday.”
Even in defeat, Scheffler stayed measured.
“Overall, I’m not going to hold too many regrets, but yeah, definitely a little disappointed now,” Scheffler said. “But like I said, I started the weekend 12 shots back and ended up only one shot back.
"If I am going to blame anything, I should probably blame the first two rounds before I start looking at stuff from my last couple.”
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