AUGUSTA, Ga. — Scottie Scheffler has participated in plenty of pretournament press conferences over last few seasons, and rightfully so. He is the world’s No. 1 golfer, the clear-cut best player in the game, a four-time major champion, a four-time PGA Tour Player of the Year and a winner of 20 events on the PGA Tour.
The accolades have consumed his résumé as the cash has flooded into his bank account. But instead of puffing out his chest and exuding the confidence of a man who can seemingly do no wrong in between the ropes every Thursday through Sunday, Scheffler has taken the time on the stand to discuss how his accomplishments and profession may make up his Wikipedia page but do little to define the man.
The last time we saw Scheffler hold a press conference before a major championship was last summer’s Open at Royal Portrush. The American answered question after question, but it was his response to a specific one that caught fire and went viral.
Scheffler weighed the point of all of this — the golf, the winning, the trophies — and examined how fleeting the highs of his accomplishments can be. He insisted fulfillment was elsewhere in life — family, faith, friends, the core of one’s existence — and that his golf will never define the man he sees in the mirror, even if that is what is seen by the outside world.
“I feel like, growing up, I think it’s always a struggle. I think that’s still a struggle to this day,” Scheffler said. “When you finish a round of golf, you post a score up there. I think you put so much time and effort into the game that you expect a lot out of it. Sometimes you do get some things out of it. Most of the time in golf, you’re probably going to be a little bit disappointed at the end of the week just because there’s only one winner and there’s a lot more losers than that.
“I would say it’s always been a battle for me trying to strike a balance between continuing to work hard, staying competitive and also not having … my good golf or my bad golf define me because that could go one of two ways.
“If I let my bad golf define me, I’d be a pretty miserable person. If I let my good golf define me, whether or not it’s a green jacket or an Open Championship, then I’d walk around pretty arrogant all the time, and I wouldn’t be very nice to people because I think I’m hot stuff because I won a few golf tournaments.”
Scheffler’s golf may not define him internally, but through it, the definition of his career could change, especially as it pertains to his play at the Masters. Making his seventh appearance at Augusta National Golf Club, the 29-year-old has history, nay, all-time greatness status on the horizon.
Scheffler has yet to finish outside the top 20 in his career at Augusta National, and he has picked up two green jackets along the way in 2022 and 2024. A win this year would make for his third on paper, but it would mean so much more than needing a third wood hanger to rest another green jacket.
Fewest career starts to win third Masters
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Arnold Palmer |
8 |
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Jack Nicklaus |
8 |
|
Tiger Woods |
8 |
|
Jimmy Demaret |
9 |
|
Nick Faldo |
13 |
|
Sam Snead |
15 |
|
Phil Mickelson |
18 |
|
Gary Player |
21 |
If the green jacket is to be draped back onto his shoulders Sunday evening in Butler Cabin and again on the 18th green, Scheffler would become the fastest to earn the coveted third. He would accomplish the feat in just seven Masters, one fewer than Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods, each of whom accomplished the feat in eight appearances.
Scheffler would trail only those three aforementioned names in terms of total green jackets as well: Arnie has four, Tiger five and Jack six. Nicklaus’ last came 40 years before this year’s tournament at the 50th Masters in 1986. Scheffler would turn that threesome into a foursome by winning three Masters across a five-start span and would join just Nicklaus and Woods in winning three before the age of 30.
Arnie, Tiger, Jack — the triumvirate that helped define the competitive aspect of this golf tournament for the last seven decades — could soon have company. Greatness could have another name to describe. Scheffler could have a new way to be announced on first tees across the country — a three-time Masters champion and five-time major champion.
While descriptions, Wikipedia pages and history books may change, the man striking the shots refuses to be defined by his success, even if his greatness becomes impossible to diminish.