(Reuters) – Scottie Scheffler capped a meteoric rise from obscurity to world number one by winning the WGC-Match Play in Texas on Sunday.
Scheffler soundly beat fellow American Kevin Kisner 4&3 in the final at Austin Country Club.
The win, his third in his past five PGA Tour starts, elevated Scheffler from fifth to the top of the world list, displacing Spaniard Jon Rahm.
Scheffler was ranked 824th in the world at this time two years ago, and until last month had never won on the PGA Tour.
The 25-year-old first came to prominence at last year’s Match Play when he made the final, before finishing runner-up.
He subsequently had top-10 finishes in three consecutive majors at the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open and has gone from strength to strength since.
“This is so much fun. I never really got that far in my dreams to be honest,” he said, his voice cracking with emotion when asked what it meant becoming number one.
“I just love playing golf, love competing. I’m just happy to be out here to be honest.”
He looms as one of the favourites for the April 7-10 Masters, after finishing equal 18th at Augusta National last year.
(Reporting by Andrew Both in Cary, North Carolina; Editing by Toby Davis)
