There is a switch a golfer needs to flip on while walking to the 10th tee after an opening nine of indifferent play and a series of shots tugged left.

 

Scottie Scheffler knows where it is. Just don’t ask him because he sort of likes keeping it to himself. It enables him to change gears in crunch time and to maintain a rather dominant presence in the major championships.

 

Never was that more apparent than in the way he so emphatically made the 107th PGA Championship a showcase of his incredible talents and mental fortitude.

 

 

And let the record show, that while it will go down in history that Scheffler – who finished with 71 for 11-under 273 and won by five – scorched the back nine at Quail Hollow in just 32 strokes Saturday and 34 Sunday with a parade of one eagle, seven birdies, and a handful of gut-check pars, what pumped fuel into it all is something that isn’t on the scorecard or in his golf bag.

 

“I always try to lean as much as I can on my mind,” said Scheffler. “I think that’s probably my greatest strength.”

 

Oh, how he needed it, too, because after seeing his lead balloon to five strokes just five holes into the final round, his swing kept tugging shots wide left and bogeys soiled his scorecard at the par-3 sixth and par-4 ninth. Up ahead, a vaunted heavyweight, Jon Rahm, was making birdies and there suddenly wasn’t much breathing room up top.

 

Going to the turn at 2-over 37, Scheffler, who started the day three strokes clear of his nearest competitor, Alex Noren, was now 9-under, but Rahm, who started five behind, matched that figure with birdies at Nos. 8, 10, and 11.

 

It didn’t seem possible, considering Scheffler had walked to the sixth tee at 11-under, five in front, but the game was now on.

 

 

Thing was, so, too, was that switch that the truly great golfers have deep within.

 

“I’m proud of how I did this week, just staying in it mentally and hitting the shots when I needed to,” said the 28-year-old from Dallas.

 

Scheffler had found just two of seven fairways on the outward nine, his misses left, all of them. But in crunch time, guess what? It was a stripe show as Scheffler drove it in the fairway at 10, 11, 12, into the front bunker on the short 14th (which is as good as the fairway on that hole), then found it again at 15. The result was resounding: Three birdies, a push to 12-under and with Rahm disintegrating with a bogey, double-bogey, double-bogey finish, the major stage belonged to Scheffler.

 

Again. And, yes, it’s getting to be routine. It’s his third win in the 21 majors he’s played as a professional – the other two coming in the Masters – and his record is rather impeccable on these biggest of stages. In the PGA Championship alone, Scheffler in six appearances has a win and four top 10s.

 

“This is a special tournament,” said Scheffler, who never caught a glimpse of one of the guys who shared second place. That’s because Harris English went out 3 hours and 40 minutes ahead of Scheffler and shot 65, the low round of the day. He got to 6-under, which would share second with Bryson DeChambeau (70) and Davis Riley (72), then caught a flight to next week’s PGA TOUR tournament, politely leaving the stage to Scheffler.

 

 

Alex Noren and Scottie Scheffler shakes hands during the final round of the PGA Championship

 

“Anytime you can win a major championship is pretty cool and I’m proud of how I did this week, just staying in it mentally and hitting the shots when I needed to,” said Scheffler after winning his 15th event as a PGA TOUR player.

 

The magic he spun Sunday was almost a carbon copy of Saturday. Indeed, just 24 hours earlier, Scheffler had walked to the 12th tee at 7-under, tied with Rahm and DeChambeau, both several holes ahead.

 

Where they were greatly separated is how they finished. Scheffler and his trusty mind played the back in 32, while Rahm stumbled with a bogey and DeChambeau with a bogey and a double-bogey.

 

The holes down the stretch are guarded by water, defined by great length, and one knows that they require precision and guile. They are, undoubtedly, the key holes and Scheffler deservedly raised the Wanamaker Trophy because he stepped up when he had to.

 

“I hit the important shots well this week and that’s why I’m walking away with the trophy,” he said. “The shots on the golf course that are the most important, those are the ones I feel like I did my best at this week.”

 

The numbers supported him. Scheffler played the back nine in 7-under, devouring the 14th and 15th holes (four birdies, three eagles), and being rock-solid at 16, 17 and 18 on the weekend, especially.

 

“It was a long week,” said Scheffler. “I felt like this was as hard as I battled for a tournament in my career.”

 

The guess is, it won’t be his last, either.