Despite being forced to go toe-to-toe with World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler all Sunday afternoon, Hattiesburg, Mississippi's Davis Riley rose to the challenge to win the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club. Riley entered the final round with a four-stroke advantage over Scheffler, whom he played with in the final pairing, and cruised to an even-par 70 with four birdies and four bogeys.
"It's super special to get my second win," Riley said. "Obviously being so close to where I live now here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, super special having [a] countless number of friends and family and winning at such a prestigious event like the Charles Schwab Challenge is truly an honor and I'm stoked."
Riley started the day a bit nervy, as he failed to make birdie at the par-5 1st hole and bogeyed the 2nd to have his lead quickly cut to three strokes. But the former Alabama Crimson Tide standout bounced back with an impressive birdie at the pesky 4th hole to settle into his round and never looked back.
"It was certainly nice to start out with a cushion of four shots... you got the No. 1 player in the world breathing down your neck, not really any shot lead is too comfortable... I really felt like I just stayed in my own bubble and just got really -- I told my caddie before the round, I just want to be -- I want to get lost in the process of it, I want to be so focused on what I'm doing. The process I'm going through, picking targets, and being really detail-oriented. I just wanted to get lost in that and then show up on 16 and 17 and be right where I wanted to be."
Riley won the 2023 Zurich Classic alongside partner Nick Hardy, but his victory in Forth Worth is his first individual PGA Tour title. Funny enough, the duo was slotted in the same grouping for the opening 36 holes of the tournament this week, which Riley hinted was a potential factor for his blazing-hot start.
"We've got a special friendship and obviously having our maiden PGA Tour win together was certainly special. Nick is somebody who I've known throughout my entire golf career and he's just one of my best friends out here... [playing together] probably was a big reason why I got off to a good start because there was definitely a level of comfort there."
Riley had made two previous starts at Colonial and finished T4 in 2022, where he briefly held the lead with six holes to play on Sunday before making two bogeys and a double bogey down the stretch. This time, however, Riley felt a sense of comfort with the situation and knew to keep the plan simple to get over the finish line.
"I just tried to wear out the fairways and greens and try to get a couple of opportunities and roll some good putts. If they went in, great, if not, I knew pars were good coming in."
SCHEFFLER STRUGGLES, BRADLEY CLIMBS
Scheffler surprisingly stumbled out of the gate on Sunday, as the reigning Masters champion bogeyed the par-3 4th and par-4 5th holes and never got anything going the rest of the way. The Dallas, Texas native did get a pair of birdies to drop at the 13th and 17th on the back nine, his only birdies of the day, to fire a 1-over 71 en route to a T2 finish. Make that nine consecutive top-10 results for Scheffler.
"I just wasn't able to put as much pressure as I would have hoped to put on Davis early in the round and he just kind of cruised all day," Scheffler said. "He played great golf... didn't really give us much of an opening today, just continued to cruise and play great golf. So it was a well-earned win for him."
Keegan Bradley made the most notable charge up the leaderboard in the final round, shooting 3-under 67 to finish tied second with Scheffler. Bradley hadn't finished inside the top 20 since the Sony Open in early January.
"My best round of the year probably," Bradley said with a smile on his face. "I really felt comfortable out there in contention, which is not always the case. I'm really proud of the way I played today. I think that's going to just get me ready for the next time that happens."
A TRIBUTE TO GRAYSON
As the final pairing of Riley and Scheffler made their way to the back nine, the horns sounded at Colonial Country Club for a moment of silence in honor of Memorial Day and Grayson Murray, who tragically passed away at 30 on Saturday morning . Players wore red and black ribbons on Sunday to honor Murray, who wore the colors of his hometown Carolina Hurricanes when playing on Sundays.
"I was thinking about him all day today," Bradley said. "He was always really, really nice to me... I really was heartbroken by this. I walked into the locker room today and the first thing I thought of was that he was here two days ago. It's just horrible."
Related: Remembering Grayson Murray: Peter Malnati's Heartfelt Interview, Reactions From Those Around the Game
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