Scottie Scheffler’s select company, Brooks Koepka’s beer run and Nike’s brilliant ad

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we love a good redemption story. A year ago, a young man got out of jail and got his life back on track. And this year, the only thing Scottie Scheffler locked up at the PGA Championship was that giant Wanamaker Trophy. I’d like to imagine his former inmates listening to the call on the prison radio while banging the bars of their jail cell with cups in solidarity. It could be an especially stirring scene when people get around to making the World No. 1’s biopic. In the meantime, let’s talk about Scottie’s latest masterpiece.

Scottie Scheffler: There were no arrests on the way to the course this time, but Scheffler still faced some hurdles. A strong field, a mudball that cost him a double bogey on Day 1 and a failed driver test that forced him to make a big equipment change on the eve of the tournament. And yet, none of those things stopped him from winning the PGA Championship. By FIVE shots.

What an absolute beast this guy is. That being said, this was a potentially pivotal moment in his career as he got to three majors ahead of Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, who both looked like they had one hand on the Wanamaker Trophy at one point on the weekend. With all the amazing golf Scottie has played the past few years, he needs to start stockpiling majors at some point to be mentioned with the all-time greats, so this was a particularly big one. And his sponsor, Nike, came through with a brilliant ad worthy of the moment:

Well played. Although, to be clear, “Just Do It” doesn’t apply to any potential criminal activity. But the only thing criminal about Scottie’s performance was that it doesn’t feel fair that someone could be this good at golf. And make no mistake, that closing five-hole sequence on Saturday was as good as it gets.

Scheffler still has two more legs to complete the career Grand Slam, but he’s already in (super) select company. As stats guru Justin Ray pointed out, he joined Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win 15 PGA Tour titles, including three majors, before age 29. And he joined Jack and Tiger as the only golfers with multiple Masters, multiple Players Championships and a PGA. Decent.