AUGUSTA, Ga. – The one-and-only, the original was fading at a heartbreaking rate right before our eyes. So by Sunday afternoon at the Masters, auditions for the next Tiger Woods – or a reasonable facsimile – had become even more urgent.

Good news, though. Scottie Scheffler stepped up and dazzled. He once more confirmed that he is the most certain thing in golf this side of overpriced cart fees. The kind of dominance he displayed in winning his second Masters in three years dripped with Tiger-esque undertones.

For another convenient comparison point, there’s this: Woods won his second Masters in his fifth professional start. Scheffler just won his second in his fifth appearance. Make of that what you will.

Most Masters, they say, don’t begin until the back nine on Sunday. Scheffler’s Masters just go there for a nap. When he won in 2022, he never trailed by fewer than three strokes over the final 15 holes. Took him a little longer this time to gain that sort of edge, but by No. 12 he was three clear and gaining separation. How about six birdies over his last 11 holes – just one less than the total of his next four closest pursuers combined over the same stretch?

“I did not ever let myself get attached to the lead. I just tried to keep pushing,” Scheffler said afterward.

At the end – no matter the static of a momentary four-way tie for the lead early in the day – he was as unchallenged as a Russian president on election day. Scheffler finished 11-under and 4 strokes up on the Swedish Masters rookie Ludvig Aberg. And 7 up on a trio tied for third.

Golf needed that kind of display of dominance after what it lived through earlier in the day. An hour before Scheffler teed off for his final round, Woods had finished just about the worst Masters of his life.

The five-time Masters champion had hung a 77 atop his 82 on Saturday to come in 16-over for the tournament and sad, dead last on the weekend leaderboard. Not that he had been much of a factor since winning here in 2019, but the depth of Woods’ decline was still wrenching. It hurt the eyes to watch, almost like staring into an eclipse without the blackout glasses. And it drove home again just how badly this fractured game needs one true star to lead it.

No one else was going to step up and volunteer for the job Sunday. No one was going to match Scheffler for calm under fire. In a matchup of cool customers in these majors, where low heartbeat so often wins, put your money on the lanky Texan with the old west stoicism every time.

One by one, those chasing Scheffler spit the bit. Morikawa suffered two double bogies in three holes before reaching the heart of Amen Corner. Max Homa spent a good part of the afternoon searching for his ball in the lovely ground cover behind the 12th green, before settling for double bogey there.

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