The inevitability of Scottie Scheffler. He wins by 3 in Monday finish at RBC Heritage

It was inevitable.

Delayed but not derailed.

Not even Sunday’s deluge of rain could dampen Scottie Scheffler’s history-making performance Monday at the RBC Heritage on Hilton Head Island as he sauntered to a three-shot victory over Sahith Theegala, who finished alone in second place.

With the course closed to spectators, only a few hundred locals and the lapping of the Calibogue Sound were there to congratulate the world’s No. 1 golfer and current force of nature in the sport.

Monday morning, nine players returned for the final four holes at Harbour Town Golf Links to complete a five-day odyssey of crowning an RBC Heritage champion with a tartan jacket and a check for $3.6 million.

After the completion of the round, Scheffler was presented with the traditional jacket and made brief remarks to the dozens of people in attendance.

“Thank you to the volunteers for getting us through this week. I know it was a long week,” he said. “Thank you to the fans as well. Great support all week, I could feel your energy out there.”

These sentiments echoed what Scheffler had been saying all week: that he came to Harbour Town with a nearly empty tank and relied on the gallery of supporters to give him the energy and a spark to forge onward toward his 10th victory on tour.

A few minutes later in the press tent, Scheffler answered reporters’ questions about the magnitude of what he is in the middle of achieving.

“I do have fairly high expectations for myself, and when I show up at tournaments, I try to do my best. I’ve talked a lot about kind of the preparation and what it takes for me to show up on a first tee ready to go, and I feel like I’ve been putting in the work and been playing some good golf, and it’s nice to be seeing some results for that with wins,” he said.

The current state of play in both the men’s and women’s professional game has two players far ahead of the competition. Nelly Korda, 25, just won her fifth tournament in a row at the Chevron Championship at the Club at Carlton Woods near Houston.

When Scheffler was asked to compare her achievement to his, he said, “One of the people here asked me, like, is this turning into a competition between you and Nelly ... I think if it’s a competition, she’s got me pretty beat right now. Five wins in a row.

“It’s pretty special stuff,” he said. “To win four times in a row and then show up at a major championship and win is extremely impressive. So I’m extremely happy for her.”

The precise but predictable excellence of Scheffler’s play over the past few months has some in the golf world bringing up the word boring to describe his approach to the sport. When asked, he didn’t recoil but leaned into the idea that the game can be enjoyable when played at the highest level.

Scheffler responded, “No, it does not get boring. I think hitting a really well-struck golf shot close to the pin is like an addicting feeling.

“I think that’s something that’s cool about the game is — that’s what keeps everybody coming back. Golf is a game that drives people nuts and then all of a sudden you hit this great shot, and it feels wonderful and flies right up there by the pin, and it just gives everybody hope. Sometimes that’s how I feel out there. I love the feeling of a well-struck golf shot.”

Scheffler was asked what’s next for him, and his response further revealed the humility and simplicity that others have said he embodies. “I’m going to get a breakfast burrito, some coffee, and I’m going to go home.”

That’s back home to Texas with a tartan jacket, a trophy, $3.6 million and a burrito.

Milestones

Including the back-to-back wins at the Masters and RBC Heritage, the 27-year-old Dallas resident now has taken the top spot in four of his last five tournaments, and he’s beginning to tick off milestones reached only by the game’s greats:

• In winning the RBC Heritage, he joined Bernhard Langer as the only other player to win the Masters and RBC Heritage in back-to-back weeks. Langer did it in 1985. (Jack Nicklaus won both events in 1975, but not back-to-back.)

• Scheffler also became the first World No. 1 since Tiger Woods in 2006 to win a major and win a PGA Tour event the following week.

• He is the first player to win 10 or more times on tour in the span of three seasons since Dustin Johnson won 10 titles between 2015-16 and 2017-18.

• It’s the second time he’s had four wins in a season, joining the likes of Jon Rahm, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods with multiple four-win seasons since 2000.

Entering the final round, Scheffler was one stroke ahead of world No. 23 Sepp Straka of Austria, and they were paired together for the final round. But Scheffler quickly increased his lead to 3 strokes, and Straka fell off the pace.

It was spitting rain when Scheffler and and Straka teed off at 2 p.m. for the final round. Players were warned that rain was coming, and the forecast came true at 4 p.m.

The players pressed on, with golfers and caddies huddling under umbrellas. Finally, the PGA Tour suspended the golf at 4:28 p.m., and play did not resume until 7 p.m. Players returned at 8 a.m. Monday.

The biggest roar from Sunday’s weather-interrupted final round came on the second hole after Scheffler’s approach shot on the par five skipped through the green and ended up trundling off the back into the primary rough.

His third shot was a masterpiece in short-game prowess as he dropped a chip on the fringe above the hole and let it run downhill along the fall line to the hole for eagle three.

Reporters Karl Puckett and Evan McKenna contributed to this report.