Scottie Scheffler is new No. 1 golfer with Match Play win

Scottie Scheffler is the hottest player in golf and now has the ranking to prove it.

Six weeks after his first PGA Tour victory, Scheffler won the Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin, Texas, for his third title in his last five starts, this win moving him to No. 1 in the world.

One year after losing in the championship match, the 25-year-old Scheffler never trailed against Kevin Kisner, building a 3-up lead through six holes and giving him no chance to catch up. Scheffler closed him out with a par on the 15th for a 4-and-3 victory.

Scheffler never trailed in the semifinal win over Dustin Johnson or against Kisner — he went the final 57 holes at Austin Country Club without trailing — and was so solid in the championship match that Kisner didn’t win a hole.

Scheffler won at Austin Country Club, where the Texas Longhorns occasionally practiced. Scheffler earned a business degree in four years without summer school.

Scheffler won the Phoenix Open six week ago and followed that with a win at Bay Hill to move to No. 5 in the world. He needed help from Jon Rahm to get to the top. Rahm, who had been No. 1 since July 18, lost in the fourth round in 19 holes to Brooks Koepka. That paved the way for Scheffler to replace him by winning the Match Play.

He’s the sixth-youngest player to reach No. 1 since the world ranking began in 1986. Scheffler joined Kisner as the only players to win the Match Play the year after losing in the championship match. Scheffler earned $2.1 million for the victory.

In the morning semifinals, Scheffler beat Johnson 3 and 1 and Kisner edged Corey Conners 2-up. Conners defeated Johnson 3 and 1 in the consolation match.

PGA Tour

Chad Ramey won the windswept Corales Puntacana Championship in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, for his first PGA Tour title, beating Ben Martin and Alex Smalley by a stroke.

Ramey closed with a five-under-par 67, completing a two-putt par on the par-four 18th after Martin missed a six-foot birdie try that would have forced a playoff.

Two strokes behind Martin entering the round, Ramey made four straight birdies on Nos. 13-16 to take the lead and parred the par-three 17th at Corales Golf Course.

With the tournament played opposite the WGC match play event in Austin, Texas, Ramey earned an exemption into the PGA Championship but not the Masters. The 29-year-old from Mississippi finished at 17-under 271.

Martin, the leader after each of the first three rounds, closed with a 70. Smalley finished with a 67.

LPGA Tour

Atthaya Thitikul won the JTBC Classic in Carlsbad for her first LPGA Tour title, three-putting for bogey on the second hole of a playoff to outlast Nanna Koerstz Madsen.

After Koerstz Madsen’s 15-foot bogey putt hit the edge of the cup and stayed out, the 19-year-old Thitikul rolled her 10-foot par try close and holed out for the breakthrough victory.

At 19 years 25 days, Thitikul is the youngest winner on the LPGA Tour since Brooke Henderson in the 2016 Portland Classic at 18 years 9 months 23 days. The Thai player also has two victories on the Ladies European Tour.

Koerstz Madsen lost two weeks after winning a playoff in Thailand to become the first Danish champion in LPGA Tour history.

They matched pars on the first extra trip down No. 18, with Thitikul missing an eight-foot birdie try. Koerstz Madsen drove left on the second playoff hole and hit her second shot from an awkward stance near the cart path into the greenside water.

Thitikul shot an eight-under 64, making nine birdies and a bogey to finish at 16-under 272 at Aviara Golf Club in the final event before the first major of the season this week at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage.

Koerstz Madsen, three strokes ahead of Na Rin An and and six in front of Thitikul entering the round, had a 70. She took the lead with a birdie on the par-five 17th, then bogeyed No. 18 to fall into the playoff.

An was third at 15 under after a 68.

Top-ranked Jin Young Ko (68) was 14 under with Pajaree Anannarukarn (68) and Maude-Aimee Leblanc (68).

European Tour

Ewen Ferguson of Scotland won the Qatar Masters in Doha for his first DP World Tour title, closing with a two-under 70 in high wind for a one-stroke victory.

Ferguson finished at seven-under 281 at Doha Golf Club.

Playing partner Chase Hanna was second. The American shot a 71.

Adrian Meronk (75) and Marcus Kinhult (71) tied for third at five under.