Davis Riley Holds Off Scottie Scheffler to Capture Charles Schwab Victory

Davis Riley took the lead in the second round of this weekend’s Charles Schwab Challenge and never gave it back. The 27-year-old cruised to an impressive five-stroke victory, holding off the world’s best golfer, Scottie Scheffler, in the process. Riley and Scheffler were paired together in the final groping on Sunday, and Riley started the day four strokes ahead. Here is how Davis Riley was able to come out on top.

Any professional golfer would love to be told at the beginning of a tournament that they will be heading into Sunday with a four-stroke lead, but when it is Scottie Scheffler who is chasing you, it can become a bit more stressful. Luckily for Riley, Scheffler did not have anywhere close to his best day. Scheffler only hit seven of the 14 fairways in regulation, and he did not make a birdie until the 13th hole. The world’s number-one ranked golfer ended up shooting one-over par on Sunday, making things much easier on Riley, who gave himself some margin for error thanks in large part to his outstanding play on Friday and Saturday, where he shot a 64 and 66, respectively. Riley shot an even-par round of 70 on Sunday as he had two birdies and two bogeys on both the front and back nine. His worst round of the week was more than enough to win comfortably as he sunk a six-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to officially take home the victory.

This is Riley’s second win on Tour, and it ends a tough stretch for him where he only had one top-25 finish in 14 starts this season. Colonial Country Club played tougher than expected this week, as Collin Morikawa ended up being the only player in the field to shoot under par in all four rounds. Some other notable players who finished high on the leaderboard this week were Keegan Bradley who shot a -9, which tied for second, Collin Morikawa shot a -8, which landed him in fourth, and Adam Scott shot -3, tied for 12th place. The PGA Tour will go across the border next week for the RBC Canadian Open, and then there is just one more tournament before the U.S. Open at Pinehurst Country Club.