Masters 2022 — ‘I do not suppose I am prepared for this’ however Scottie Scheffler has a inexperienced jacket to point out he was

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Fifteen minutes after Scottie Scheffler received the Masters, a golf cart rushed him to the again door of Butler Cabin. The one sounds got here from a drone circling overhead and some birds. His inexperienced jacket waited inside. He seemed dazed. After all he did. Previously 57 days, he received 4 tournaments, together with a significant, and adjusted all the pieces about his life. He cannot ever return to the best way issues was once.

He is 25 years previous. This season he is made $10 million. Contained in the cabin he slipped that jacket on for the primary time — taking it off so he might repeat the ceremony in entrance of a crowd ready for him across the 18th inexperienced — and after ending an interview, he got here again exterior. He nonetheless seemed a bit of dazed and loved just a few lengthy seconds of silence till he got here again into view of the patrons, who began cheering and clapping.

“I do not actually know what to say …,” he stated.

He broke down and cried this morning — “like a child,” in his phrases –feeling simply overwhelmed with the second: One spherical of golf to win the Masters, and the twister which may take over a life after one thing like that. He is seen it hit folks he is aware of, like Jordan Spieth. He turned to his spouse in tears.

“I do not suppose I am prepared for this,” he informed her.

She made him a giant breakfast and tried to calm him down. She stated she cherished him whether or not he received or misplaced by 10. They talked about their shared religion. He received to the course and started to organize.

“Gosh, it was a protracted morning,” he stated. “It was lengthy. My abdomen has been hurting for 2 days straight.”

Again in Texas, on the Royal Oaks Nation Membership, the members and employees ready, too.

“It is the calm earlier than the storm,” head professional Dean Larsson informed me Sunday morning.

Scheffler began enjoying there as a child, after his mother and father took out a mortgage to hitch, all with the purpose of following membership members like Justin Leonard onto the PGA Tour.

“What’s actually particular,” Royal Oaks membership president Todd Moen stated, “[is] as a result of Scottie grew up right here, all people has gotten to know him.”

His dream was to be an expert.

“I wore pants after I was a child at Royal Oaks,” he stated, “as a result of I needed to play golf on the PGA Tour.”

As a boy he wore these polo shirts and khakis to highschool, dressing like a touring professional. His classmates laughed.

“Rightfully so,” he stated Sunday night time, laughing, too.

As a schoolboy golf legend in his dwelling state, he performed in school at Texas. On Saturday afternoon, Longhorns golf coach John Fields answered his cellphone in an airport, taking his present group out to California for an occasion. He selected the event as a result of it was designed by Alister MacKenzie, who additionally designed a bit of monitor referred to as Augusta Nationwide. Fields needed to organize his guys for the most important phases. Scheffler received that very same event when he was a scholar. Fields watched the Masters on his cellphone as he waited at his gate. He is virtually a part of the Scheffler household at this level. 5 years in the past, Scheffler performed within the U.S. Open at Erin Hills. He walked down the green subsequent to Brooks Koepka, along with his coach and father trailing behind. Scheffler’s dad turned to Fields.

“Do you suppose he is gonna be out right here at some point?” he requested.

It is humorous now, however Scheffler’s dad actually did not know. Fields did. He’d seen the true factor earlier than — he coached Spieth, for example — and he defined to his buddy that the younger man forward of them was not solely going to make the tour however construct a profession on it.

That prophecy has come true up to now 57 days.

On Tremendous Bowl Sunday, Scheffler received his first tour occasion on the WM Phoenix Open. Again on the membership, Moen purchased a spherical of drinks for the 19th-hole crowd and raised a glass to Scheffler and to the membership. Everybody roared. These had been his folks. Then Scheffler saved successful, on the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the WGC-Dell Applied sciences Match Play. He rocketed up the world golf rankings to No. 1. At Royal Oaks between victories, he nonetheless labored with the children on the vary, arising with chipping and placing video games, usually going so long as an hour. Earlier than leaving dwelling to come back to Georgia, he performed a spherical with three members. Then he packed for the Masters. He could not imagine it. When his first invitation got here within the mail, he teared up. These previous 57 days, he is been a younger man residing in a dreamscape.

“I do not suppose something has sunk in in the intervening time,” he stated. “My head remains to be sort of spinning.”

He arrived in Augusta beneath the radar a bit, even with all his success. All eyes had been on Tiger Woods, who was returning to aggressive golf solely 14 months after a automotive wreck almost price him his leg. Scheffler wasn’t even a yr previous when Woods received for the primary time right here.

“His YouTube clips are such an inspiration for me,” Scheffler stated. “I keep in mind watching the highlights of him successful in ’97, sort of operating away with it, and he by no means actually broke his focus.”

Now Scheffler wears Tiger model golf sneakers and shirts, and makes use of his irons, though he is in all probability received his personal line of all three coming quickly. He outplayed the legend on Thursday. On Friday, as Tiger’s surgically repaired knee started to fail him, Scheffler took the lead. He saved it Saturday and after his lengthy night time and fraught, tearful morning, he went out Sunday afternoon to defend it.

His hardest competitors got here from Rory McIlroy, who tied a final-round Masters document with a scorching 64. He birdied 18 and his roar echoed throughout the course. Rory had the most important roars of the afternoon. Reality be informed, the environment on Sunday was muted. As Scheffler made his approach dwelling via the again 9, there have been open areas on the ropes which are sometimes 5 and 6 deep for these coronation marches. Various folks hoped for some type of collapse to provide McIlroy a shot on the profession grand slam.

Scheffler did not fold.

Again at Royal Oaks, the 19th gap turned standing room solely. When Scheffler chipped in on No. 3, the most important shot of his life, the clubhouse erupted. A person ran across the room giving out excessive fives. Gap by gap, the room leaned in throughout the tense moments, ft digging into the purple and yellow carpets. Guys drank from white Styrofoam cups.

When he birdied 14 and sealed the victory, grown males hugged and rubbed one another’s heads like faculty youngsters. They knew Scheffler as a baby, and now he was going to win the identical event as Ben Hogan, and Jack Nicklaus, and Tiger Woods. A chant broke out within the room, calling for photographs.

“Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!”