Scottie Scheffler was unmatched in Austin. The former Texas Longhorn claimed the title of WGC Match Play Champion, and in the process become the world's No. 1 ranked golfer. It was some what of a home game for Scheffler, as he's played Austin Country Club "more than 100 times" and proved he was comfortable there last year when he finished second before busting through the bracket this season. In 2022 he's been on a heater, winning three of his last five starts to climb up the rankings.
Scheffler’s remarkable run of golf continued Sunday with 4&3 victory in the finals after a hard-fought 3&1 win over fellow Team TaylorMade athlete Dustin Johnson in the semis. The win vaulted Scheffler to the top spot for the first time in his career and marks his third victory with his Stealth Plus 8.0° Carbonwood driver and P·7TW irons in the bag.
The Dallas native added a Stealth 3HL fairway wood to the bag during practice rounds this week and went on to win Group 5 in a playoff after finishing with a 2-1-0 record. Scheffler stayed poised in the knockout rounds at beating last year's champion 1 UP in the Round of 16, then battled to a 3&2 dub in the quarterfinals and held off a furious rally from DJ in the semifinals.
INSIDE THE WINNING FIT
Scheffler began testing his Stealth Plus driver at a preseason driver fitting session in Texas with TaylorMade Tour Representatives. With his current Stealth Plus 8.0°, Scheffler saw average ball speed gains of 3.4 mph (177.4 mph with Stealth Plus vs 174.0 with previous gamer) and carry gains of just over 11 yards in testing (305.8 with Stealth Plus vs 294.7 with previous gamer). After being dialed in to the right spec, he was able to continuously hit the desired shot shapes and shot types with the 60X Carbon Twist Face™ driver.
He hasn’t looked back since putting Stealth Plus in play at the American Express in January and has seen an average increase of 4+ mph ball speed in tournament competition compared to his 2020-21 season average.
“During our initial driver fitting, we were working on the range into a pretty substantial wind. He was delivering some amazingly consistent golf shots. Without us being able to test on course, he turns up at his first event of the year with only one driver in his bag, which shows how confident he was with the club. I guess the rest is history."
- ADRIAN RIETVELD, TAYLORMADE SENIOR TOUR REPRESENTATIVE
The latest TaylorMade add to Scheffler’s bag came this week in Austin as he added his Stealth 3HL 3-wood to the bag on Wednesday after weeks of extensive testing. TaylorMade reps worked with Scheffler to identify the Stealth fairway model that would best match the launch characteristics of his previous gamer, which had a loft of 12.5°. In order to match those characteristics, TaylorMade reps build a Stealth 3HL with a finishing loft of 16° and a Ventus 8X shaft cut down an inch shorter.
“The benefits of the 16.5° head are that he can hit it much higher and farther if he wants to but also match previous conditions, which were lower and feature more spin. The 16.5° Stealth head is more of a weapon because of the added distance and height capability he can get when he wants it. That is the benefit of taking a lot of the spin out of the head and being able to use more loft compared to older technology. With today’s technology taking so much spin out of the club, you can use more loft which makes the club so much more playable and versatile.”
- TODD CHEW, TAYLORMADE SENIOR TOUR REPRESENTATIVE
Scheffler has had the P·7TW irons in the bag since the 2021 American Express, while previously playing TaylorMade’s P·730 irons. After seeing the P·7TWs being played by many of his competitors, Scheffler expressed interest in late 2020 about playing the irons in order to be able to hit more types of shots with the capability the Tiger Woods inspired irons possess. Since putting them in the bag, Scheffler has 12 top 10s, three PGA Tour wins and a Ryder Cup.
NEED TO KNOW
- Scheffler signed a multi-year deal March 9 to join Team TaylorMade playing the company’s Stealth Plus driver, Stealth fairway and P·7TW irons
- Sunday’s win by Scheffler marks the fifth win on the PGA TOUR by a player with Stealth Plus driver in the bag and the seventh on all men’s and women’s professional tours in 2022 Scheffler has won three times in 2022, coming in a five-start span: WM Phoenix Open, Arnold Palmer Invitational, WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play
- Including his three wins, Scheffler has a total of seven Top-10 or better finishes in the 2021-2022 in a total of just 13 starts
- At age 25, Scheffler becomes the sixth player to reach World No. 1 before age 26 joining Tiger Woods, Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm Scheffler is the first American golfer to reach World No. 1 before winning his first major since 1999
SCOTTIE'S WITB
- Stealth Plus 8° Carbonwood Driver
- Stealth 3HL 16.5° Fairway Wood
- P·7TW Irons (5-PW)
- TaylorMade Staff Bag
