Scottie Scheffler 1st, Tiger Woods 18th at Hero World Challenge - ESPN

NASSAU, Bahamas — Scottie Scheffler has made great gains in his putting. Add that to the rest of his top-ranked game, and he made it look easy Sunday. He closed with a 4-under 68 for a 3-shot victory in the Hero World Challenge.

Scheffler, a runner-up in the Bahamas the previous two years, played bogey-free at Albany and didn't let anyone get closer than 2 shots on the back nine as he ended the year with his fifth victory worldwide.

The Hero World Challenge is an unofficial event, though its 20-man field receives world ranking points, and Scheffler only solidified his spot at No. 1.

The week wasn't a total loss for Tiger Woods, the tournament host playing for the first time since surgery to fuse his right ankle a few weeks after the Masters in April.

Woods finished 72 holes for only the third time in the past two years. He has played six tournaments following the recovery from his February 2021 car crash in Los Angeles that badly injured his right leg.

«Just like I said to you guys on Tuesday, I'm curious… what this is going to look like,» Woods said. «I haven't done it in a while — I haven't done it with my ankle the way it is now, and I was excited each and every day to kind of get through it and kind of start piecing rounds together again. I haven't done this in a long time so it was fun to feel that again.»

Woods closed with a 72 and finished 18th.

Sepp Straka had three late birdies for a 64 to finish second. Justin Thomas had a 67 to finish alone in third. It was his third straight finish in the top 5 dating to September.

Scheffler led the PGA Tour in just about every important statistical category — off the tee, shots to the green — until he got onto the putting surface. He sought help from highly regarded putting