The United States has the No. 1 player in the world on its side at the Ryder Cup, but Scottie Scheffler would rather view himself as another member of the team.
The ever-humble Scheffler brushed off a comparison to Tiger Woods and any thoughts of the external expectations on his shoulders as the U.S. prepares to wrest the Ryder Cup back from Team Europe this week at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.
Meeting with reporters Tuesday morning, Scheffler was asked if it is right for fans’ expectations of him to be different than any of his teammates.
“I mean, I don’t really think about that kind of stuff. If that’s something you want to write about, then more power to you,” Scheffler said. “I don’t think about expectations. I don’t bother with that kind of stuff because it’s unimportant to me.
“What I focus on when I show up to tournaments is my preparation, and I have prepared for this tournament, I’m ready to go out and compete, and when I step up there on Friday I can tell myself on the tee on that I did ever last little thing that I could in order to play well when it’s time to go do what I love to do, and that’s compete and have fun. I’m excited to be able to play in front of a home crowd.
“I truly don’t think about expectations or anything like that. That’s wasted space in my brain.”
Among the preparation Scheffler took on was an extra tournament two weeks ago, the Procore Championship in Napa, Calif. Most of his Ryder Cup teammates also played, making for a much stronger than usual field in the PGA Tour’s fall season. Scheffler caught teammate Ben Griffin on Sunday and won by a stroke.
Scheffler and other players had expressed regret that they spent so much time off from competitive golf in 2023 before heading to Rome, where Team Europe won by five points. When captain Keegan Bradley asked the team to enter the Procore as a tune-up, it was an easy sell.
But Scheffler said Tuesday that the experience of losing in Rome is less of a “motivation” for him this week as opposed to a learning experience.
“I think you can always learn from those experiences,” Scheffler said, “and I think that would be the best way that I could describe it, is how much I learned from the experience in Rome, how much I learned from the experience at Whistling Straits, and I feel like I have a large bank of knowledge over the course of my career that I can use to my advantage, especially when things get tough.
“I don’t think it can be understated how difficult of a week Rome was for us. I think we could have done better for sure. That wasn’t how I expected the week to go. I think we learned from it, and we’re as prepared as ever this time.”
Scheffler went 2-0-1 in his Ryder Cup debut at Whistling Straits in 2021, defeating Spain’s Jon Rahm before he had even won a PGA Tour event. But he posted an 0-2-2 record in 2023, with Sam Burns and Brooks Koepka as his partners during foursomes and fourball.
He was asked Tuesday whether it’s difficult for Bradley to find the right pairing for Scheffler because he has been so dominant on tour and the player the other Americans look up to, in the vein of Woods in his prime.
“I think on our team, I think we have 12 guys that are all equal,” Scheffler said. “I don’t think one player is more important than another.
“I’d like to think that I’m not difficult to pair with people. I’d like to think of myself as someone that’s a nice guy and easy to get along with. I’ve had different partners over the years and have had some success. I would definitely not put myself in that category.”
Addressing the Woods comparison, Scheffler added, “It could just be the aura that was Tiger Woods. There was some times there when he was doing nothing but winning golf tournaments and just beating the absolute crap out of people time and time again.”
A reporter asked if he doesn’t think there is an aura of being Scottie Scheffler. The Texan laughed.
“Not really,” he said. “I don’t have much to elaborate on that.”
–Adam Zielonka, Field Level Media
