Scottie Scheffler lives a dream with Masters green jacket and world No. 1 ranking

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Scottie Scheffler won the Masters on Sunday with a smile, a seeming attempt to destroy golf as we know it.

Millions equate the game to torture on short grass. Even the best players in the world constantly tweak or alter their mechanics and groan after shots. Golf is an impossible task compounded by uncooperative utensils and camouflaged by nature, yet Scheffler, 25, won the Masters this week with ease and the occasional giggle.

He laughed on the back of the 12th green on Saturday, on the 18th hole on Sunday, and all week during interviews, then he survived a four-putt on the 72nd hole to win by three over fast-charging Rory McIlroy.

Scheffler's celebration consisted of hugging every member of his extended family and just about anybody else within reach.

"It's such a fun golf course," he said. "Such a fun piece of property. I didn't break my concentration until we got onto the green at 18th. Had some fun with it."

That was the Scheffler the golf world got to know this week. That's not the Scheffler his wife saw at their house.

After using the word "fun" a half-dozen times, Scheffler revealed that he spilled his takeout dinner in the car on Saturday night, had trouble sleeping, then cried on Sunday morning, before his wife calmed him.

"Off the golf course, it's stressful," he said. "On the course, it's a lot of fun."

McIlroy shot 64 to match the lowest final-round in Masters history, reaching 7 under and finishing second. He holed a bunker shot on 18, then celebrated as if he had lost control of his limbs, and then playing partner Collin Morikawa holed a bunker shot to finish fifth, then embraced McIlroy.

"It's what you dream about, right?" McIlroy said. "To play as well as I did today and then finish like this, it's absolutely incredible. This tournament never ceases to amaze. That's as happy as I've ever been on a golf course."

The Rory & Mori Show deserves a sequel. Cameron Smith is begging for one.

Smith birdied the first two holes to cut Scheffler's lead from three to one. Then Smith bogeyed the third and fourth and Scheffler holed a chip for birdie on No. 3.

"I'll grow from this and be stronger for it," Smith said.

It's mid-April and Scheffler, the world No. 1, has become the first player other than Tiger Woods to win four events in a season including a major and a World Golf Championship event. Woods did it eight times, between 1999 and 2008.

Two months ago, Scheffler ranked 15th in the world and had never won a PGA Tour event. Now he's No. 1 with a bullet and a green jacket.

In the tournament that welcomed Woods back after 14 months of rehabilitation on his severely damaged right leg, Scheffler said he played Woods' golf clubs and wore his trademarked shoes and clothes.

He still watches Woods' greatest shots on YouTube, many of them from Woods' victories at Augusta National. Now Scheffler is guaranteed a Masters invitation for life.