World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler isn’t intimidated by playing links golf this week at The Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland.
He doesn’t care that he’s the favorite and won’t dwell on it if he doesn’t walk away with his fourth major championship this week. Or if he does happen to lift the Claret Jug on Sunday afternoon.
What really matters to him, what really fulfills him, he told reporters Tuesday, is doing the right thing for his family.
“Every day when I wake up early to go put in the work, my wife thanks me for going out and working so hard. When I get home, I try and thank her every day for taking care of our son,” Scheffler said. “That’s why I talk about family being my priority because it really is. I’m blessed to be able to come out here and play golf, but if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that’s going to be the last day that I play out here for a living.
“This is not the be all, end all. This is not the most important thing in my life. That’s why I wrestle with, why is this so important to me? Because I’d much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer. At the end of the day, that’s what’s more important to me.”
Scheffler has 16 PGA Tour wins, including three this season. He won the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in May to go with his two Masters championships. And he appreciates those wins but still struggles with finding the lasting satisfaction in all of it.
“That’s something that I wrestle with on a daily basis,” Scheffler said. “It’s like showing up at the Masters every year; it’s like why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win The Open Championship so badly? I don’t know because, if I win, it’s going to be awesome for two minutes.”
Still, the competitive fire is stirring in Scheffler, 29, this week at the Open, which begins Thursday. He practiced Monday at Royal Portrush and walked away with an assessment that many competitors — especially his fellow Americans unaccustomed to the links — probably don’t share.
“Golf course is good. It’s in really good shape,” he said. “Seems like a fun place to play.”
While others are worrying about trajectory and putting spin on the ball, Scheffler is less scientific in his approach to the links course.
“I just try to have a picture of what type of shot I want to hit and match the club to that. There’s not a lot of thought that goes into it for me; it’s more just getting a picture of what I think is correct and making sure it’s not too far off with my caddie Ted (Scott), and then we go from there and I try and hit the shot,” he said.
Scheffler has limited experience on the links courses but does not feel overmatched.
“I think it fits my strengths because I like to do things very creatively, and I think out here you kind of have to,” he said. “I think each year we come over, I start learning a bit more and more.”
He continued: “There’s a lot of different shots you have to play. It’s an interesting golf course, and from what I’ve seen, it seems to be really fun to play and very fair.”
And at this stage of his career, fun and family are everything for Scheffler. Even if the fun of winning doesn’t stick with him very long.
“If I come in second this week or if I finish dead last, no matter what happens, we’re always on to the next week. That’s one of the beautiful things about golf, and it’s also one of the frustrating things because you can have such great accomplishments, but the show goes on. That’s just how it is,” he said.
“It’s great to win tournaments. It’s a lot of fun. Sometimes the feeling only lasts about two minutes, it seems like, when you’re celebrating, and then it’s like, OK, now you’ve got to go do all this other stuff, which is great, but sometimes the feeling of winning only lasts a few seconds. It’s pretty exciting and fun, but it just doesn’t last that long.”
–Field Level Media
