Davis Riley (-14) has authoritatively won the Charles Schwab Challenge. And he did so under very severe playing conditions, at a fierce Colonial Country Club, and starting in the final round in an always delicate position, such as sharing the star match with a world Number One. And what a world Number One, Scottie Scheffler. Let’s remember that no one since Tiger, until the Texan’s arrival at the top, had exercised such a crushing dominance in the rankings and statistics.
Therefore, special attention must be paid to Riley, a player born the same year as Scheffler (1996), owner of a swing as solid as it is elegant, fabulous iron hitter, although he has just scored his first individual victory on the PGA Tour (he had already won the Zurich Classic in pairs). To do what he has done this week, one must possess a special class, one must play golf that is well above average on a course that premiered a deep renovation this year and has posed a monumental challenge, with those firm greens, that well-nourished bermuda rough, and the help of the wind.
In fact, he was the only one who reached a two-digit under par record and finished strolling on hole 18 and imposing himself with a five-stroke advantage over his immediate pursuers, Keegan Bradley (-9)… And Scottie Scheffler (-9), of course.
Scottie in the good times: winning everything. And Scottie in the hard times: finishing in second position in a week with performance peaks in his game certainly unusual. Today, for example, he marched through a barren wasteland for the first eleven holes, very erratic from the tee, but also in the rest of the game areas. And, let’s be honest, this circumstance has also helped the winner, who has not seen himself with the rope around his neck from the start, as has happened so many times to other direct rivals of the Number One. (Well, let’s not tarnish Riley’s victory in any way. Quite the opposite, and it must be insisted on: this player deserves the same credit that we usually give to the best. It may be his first victory, but it has certainly been very special).
Then, from hole 12, seen and not seen, Scheffler regained touch, precision and intention, to the point of looking at birdie almost every hole, from that point to the end. Something similar had happened to him on Thursday, with a very solid start to the round, a horrible seven-hole parenthesis, in which he couldn’t get anything right, and a notable end to the round again. These were very abrupt and sustained disconnections over more time, more holes, than was (is) usual for this player. It will be Scottie and his team who will have to analyse whether there is a specific cause or whether such peaks, so wildly differentiated, only respond to chance. It doesn’t seem like it, of course. Another thing is to hit the correct diagnosis.
Or maybe he just needs a deep reset, as we are dealing with a real ‘animal’ of routines, and his have undergone some important changes in recent times, starting with his recent fatherhood, continuing with the unfortunate police episode at the PGA and ending in this black week in Fort Worth, Texas, which in one way or another has traumatized all the colleagues of the sadly disappeared Grayson Murray.
Precisely to him, to Grayson, Riley referred as soon as he proclaimed himself the winner, just as Keegan Bradley had done minutes before: they had not stopped thinking about him almost every minute since the fatal news was known. They had to keep playing, Murray’s parents expressed at the time, “it’s what he would have wanted”. And so it was done.
