FFor 27 years, 10 months and 26 days, the most interesting thing about Scottie Scheffler was his golf balls. Considering that’s what he paid for, you’d think that would be enough. But the fact is that since Scheffler climbed to the top of the world rankings in March 2022, the sport has demanded more and more of him. Trouble is, he has nothing to give except his faith, his family, and his attachment to a beat-up 2012 GMC Yukon. Say it quietly, but the truth is, a lot of people are worried about Scheffler, who many consider to be the best player of his generation but who is a little too boring to play the sport.
He then decided to detour into the westbound lanes as he passed through the gates of Valhalla on Friday morning. Last month, Scheffler explained that he believed his victory at the Masters meant God “had plans for today many years ago and there was nothing I could do to destroy them.” Well, either the Lord also takes the marching orders of the Kentucky Traffic Police, or this is more proof that He moves in mysterious ways, if we need that.
You’ll find Scheffler atop just about every list on the PGA Tour, from scoring average, strokes scored, greens counted, to top-12 results and earnings, but you have to go a long, long, long way long way. There are all kinds of characters on the Tour, all with common human vices, but Scheffler is not one of them. This guy is like a bogey square on the scorecard and drives straighter than Zach Johnson.
Scheffler’s secret seems to have always been that he’s so organized. Golf ultimately drives everyone a little crazy, but his approach to the game is healthy. He said it was what he did that mattered, not who he was, and that was only number three on the list of things that mattered to him. The first was his wife, Meredith, whom he met in high school and married after college, and the second was his religious beliefs. Since he became a dad last week, that number is lower again. “My priorities here are going to change very quickly,” he said in Augusta National Park. “My son or daughter would be the priority now, along with my wife, so golf would probably be fourth.”
Scheffler actually promised to quit racing if his wife went into labor while he was playing, and those who knew him said he kept his word. If inconsistent, he is nothing. He’s had the same coach since he was little and the same girl since he was older. As of 2023, he still drives the car his father gave him in college. He once described his perfect day as a leisurely morning with his wife, a game of pickle ball in the afternoon, and dinner with friends in the evening. The menu will likely remain the same as usual, he said, because “I could eat the same meals every day of my life.”
This leaves the rest of us looking for an angle to view the man from. The son of a stay-at-home dad and a mother who works at a law firm, he graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in finance. His swing was so weird that he once muttered “Can’t you just shut up for 30 seconds?” When a spectator yelled at him during his backswing, he began to cry quietly (and immediately decided No more talking back in the audience); he burst into tears when he was beaten in a Ryder Cup foursomes match. Business teams don’t have many stories to work with.
This is more important than it should be. ESPN’s first-round ratings for this year’s Masters were the highest in a decade, while CBS’ final-round ratings were the third-lowest ever. It’s a bit blunt to say it was Scheffler’s fault, but as he entered the back nine his victory felt inevitable but difficult for the wider audience to accept.
Unfortunately his golf ball was completely irresistible. The man didn’t shoot a single over-par score all year. He had just won the Masters and people were already talking about whether he had a real chance of winning the calendar major.
He played so well that people even compared him to Tiger Woods, even though their game was the only thing they had in common. Or, anyway. Of course, because Woods himself has been involved in a few traffic accidents in his time, most memorably in which his ex-wife kicked him out of the house and smashed the back window of his SUV with a golf club , and then he completely destroyed it.
While one of the charges was deemed a felony at the time of this writing, according to official reports, Scheffler’s confrontation with police appears to have resulted in him irreparably damaging the $80 worth of pants he was wearing. damage. This explains the difference between them.
