Turns out only the rain can stop Masters champion Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler holed a difficult pitch for eagle on his second hole Sunday to build some separation in the RBC Heritage and looked so flawless that it was only a matter of time.
And then he ran out of time. A storm system with heavy rain stopped play for 2 1/2 hours, and Scheffler was only able to get through 15 holes when darkness forced a Monday finish. He led by five shots with no one seriously challenging him.
“Everyone is trying to chase Scottie and he’s making it really tough because he keeps winning,” U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark said after giving it his best effort.
Clark, who started the final round seven shots behind, opened birdie-eagle-birdie and at one point got to within one shot of Scheffler. He was 8 under through 11 holes until an adventure into the trees right of the 12th fairway led to double bogey.
Clark already has finished runner-up to Scheffler twice in this amazing run, at Bay Hill and The Players Championship in consecutive weeks in March. He at least managed to finish his round at 6-under 65 and posted at 15-under 269.
Patrick Cantlay and J.T. Poston were at 15 under and were just off the 18th green. Sahith Theegala also was 15 under and in the right rough on the 16th hole. The final round was to resume at 8 a.m. Monday. Scheffler has three holes separating him from a fourth victory in his last five tournaments, a level of dominance not seen on the PGA Tour since the prime of Tiger Woods. The exception in his streak was a runner-up finish in the Houston Open when he misread a birdie putt from 5 feet that would have forced a playoff.
Now he is on the verge of becoming the first player since Bernhard Langer in 1985 to win the week after slipping on the Masters green jacket.
Scheffler was relentless as ever, especially at the end.
He hit his second shot into the water fronting the green on the par-5 15th, which he assumes was due to mud on the bottom of his ball. Facing a fourth shot with trees blocking a direct path to the flag, he hit a shot with enough spin to ride the slope down to 12 feet. The horn to stop play had already sounded. Scheffler chose to finish, and lightly pumped his fist when he made it for par. That extended his streak 66 straight holes at par or better.
Scheffler showed more emotion for that par than for his eagle on the second hole, or the two birdies that followed.
“I felt like the par was pretty important tonight, just being able to go to sleep and still keeping a clean card,” he said. “I felt like I got a bad break there in the fairway. I haven´t had to hit a shot like that in a long time, so I figured there must have been mud on the bottom of the ball. Just nice to keep the card clean.”