An emotional Scottie Scheffler says he will remember his gold medal win "for a long time" having come from behind with a record-equalling final round to win at the Olympics. (Medal Table | Schedule & Results | Full Coverage)
The American started four strokes behind co-leaders Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele on Sunday but produced a superb nine-under 62 to pip Great Britain's Tommy Fleetwood to the top of the leaderboard by one stroke as he finished on 19 under at Le Golf National.
It has been a banner year for the world number one, who won his second Masters title in April before claiming a first-ever medal at the Olympics.
Scheffler was emotional on the podium and expressed his pride at being able to add another gold medal to the United States' medal tally at the Paris Games.
"I get emotional in general. Usually, I have a bit more time after a tournament to kind of reflect and compose myself, but with this one, you kind of go from one thing to the next," Scheffler told NBC.
"You don't really reflect until you're standing up there on the podium. That was a pretty special moment I'll remember for a long time: standing up there on the podium with the gold medal around my neck.
"It's been a long week. It's been a challenging week. I played some great golf today, and I'm proud to be going home with a medal."
Despite his impressive score, it did not always look like Scheffler would have a chance of finishing on the podium, with Rahm pulling ahead, only to suffer a collapse on the back nine to slip out of contention.
The 28-year-old made six birdies on the back nine, including four in a row after a slightly slow start on the first half of the course.
"I felt good most of the day," Scheffler added. "I felt like I was doing a lot of good things, and the front nine, I hit a bit of a cold stretch on 4 through 9 where I wasn't able to make any birdies; and I felt like I had what was a lot of good putts and felt like what I felt was good putts and didn't go in.
"[Caddie] Teddy [Scott] did a really good job of helping me stay patient out there, and did a good job of reading the greens, as well, and we were able to get hot there on the back nine and move our way up the leaderboard."
