Scottie Scheffler successfully defended his WM Phoenix Open title at TPC Scottsdale to regain the No. 1 spot in the world. It was his first win since the 2022 Masters that set him on the road to becoming World No. 1.

Scheffler closed with a 6-under 65 to beat Nick Taylor by two strokes on the Stadium Course Sunday. The 26-year-old Texan took the No. 1 ranking from Rory McIlroy with his fifth PGA TOUR victory. Scheffler moved to fifth in the FedExCup standings.

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Though there have been 16 starts since his last win, Scheffler has finished no worse than Tied-11 (at American Express) in his last six starts indicating that he is getting back to his best as the Majors are around the corner.

Last year, Scheffler beat Patrick Cantlay in a playoff for his first TOUR title. Scheffler added victories in the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and the Masters Tournament and was the PGA TOUR’s player of the year.

Scheffler made a 22-foot eagle putt on the par-5 13th to move ahead of Taylor and then took a two-shot lead on the par-3 16th with a 15-footer for par.

Scheffler birdied the par-4 17th with a 5-foot putt and closed with a par to finish at 19-under 265. He earned $3.6 million from the $20 million purse in the second of the PGA TOUR’s new elevated events.

Scheffler became the seventh player to successfully defend a title in the tournament, following Ben Hogan (1946-47), Jimmy Demaret (1949-50), Lloyd Mangrum (1952-53), Arnold Palmer (three straight from 1961-63), Johnny Miller (1974-75) and Hideki Matsuyama (2016-17).

Taylor also finished with a 65. The Canadian bogeyed the 16th, missing a 7-footer after Scheffler holed his par putt. Jon Rahm, who opened the year with consecutive victories in Hawaii and California, was third at 14 under after a 68.

Korea’s Sungjae Im posted his third top-10 finish of the season with a tie for sixth place. The 24-year-old Im closed with a 2-under 69 after mixing four birdies against two bogeys for an 11-under 273 total in the US$20 million PGA TOUR showpiece, finishing eight shots back of Scheffler who fired a closing 65 to pip Nick Taylor (65) by two strokes. Jon Rahm carded a 68 to finish solo third and five back of Scheffler.

Im moved up to 27th position in the FedExCup points list with his strong finish and also picked up a cheque of US$652,500 in the designated event, which was offering a prize fund of US$20 million.