There aren’t too many questioning the state of Scottie Scheffler’s game ahead of the The Open Championship at Royal Portrush, but that doesn’t mean the world No. 1 has all the answers. Speaking ahead of the final major of the season, Scheffler delivered a five-minute answer questioning the short-lived satisfaction of winning golf’s biggest tournaments and whether a true sense of meaning can be derived by hitting a little white ball.
It was a rare level of introspection to see from an athlete at the top of his game, particularly one who has dominated an individual sport like Scheffler over the last few seasons.
“I think I said something after the Byron [Nelson] this year about, like, it feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling. To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf to have an opportunity to win that tournament. You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister’s there, it’s such an amazing moment. Then it’s like, OK, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on.
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport. To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special.
“But at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world because, what’s the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It’s fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it’s not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.
“There’s a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfill them in life, and you get there, you get to No. 1 in the world, and they’re like, what’s the point? I really do believe that because what is the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so bad?
“That’s something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. 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. Then we’re going to get to the next week, hey, you won two majors this year; how important is it for you to win the FedExCup playoffs? And we’re back here again.
“So we really work so hard for such little moments. I’m kind of a sicko; I love putting in the work. I love getting to practice. I love getting to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just don’t understand the point.
“I don’t know if I’m making any sense or not. Am I not? It’s just one of those deals. I love the challenge. I love being able to play this game for a living. It’s one of the greatest joys of my life, but does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart? Absolutely not.”
Scheffler enters the final major championship as the man to beat, a 9/2 favorite per BetMGM. He has not finished outside the top 10 in a golf tournament since The Players Championship, adding three more trophies to his display during this run of form, including the Wanamaker Trophy from the PGA Championship.
Now with three major titles under his belt, Scheffler is positioned to potentially grab a fourth in his fifth Open appearance. He has acquitted himself nicely during the past four outings in which he finished inside the top 25 including last year where he climbed inside the top 10 by week’s end at Royal Troon.
But even if the fourth doesn’t come this week, Scheffler understands there is more to living than just lifting trophies.
“I love playing golf. I love being able to compete. I love living out my dreams. I love being a father. I love being able to take care of my son. I love being able to provide for my family out here playing golf,” he continued. “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. 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 arrives at Royal Portrush in possession of the lowest cumulative score to par in major championship history at 84 under. He is one of three golfers since World War II to finish inside the top 10 in at least 15 of his first 24 major starts and has finished inside that mark nearly 70% of the time over the past four seasons.
He has 16 wins in the last four seasons as well — the most in any span of four seasons since Tiger Woods from 2007-10 — and is on pace to lead total strokes gained for the third straight year.
The unworldly statistics and historical numbers have added entries to growing résumé, but to Scheffler, they have done nothing to add any satisfaction to who he is as a person.
“When I sit back at the end of the year and try to reflect on things, like having that sense of accomplishment from winning the Masters tournament, from winning the PGA Championship, I have a deep sense of gratitude and appreciation for it, but it’s just hard to explain how it doesn’t — it just doesn’t satisfy, is how I would describe it,” Scheffler added. “It’s an unsatisfying venture. I guess what I’m trying to say is this is not the place to look for your satisfaction. This is something where you can have a great appreciation for and a great — like a great amount of thankfulness for being able to do this.
“Like I said, it’s literally one of the most fun things I can do in my entire life. I love being able to come out here and compete, but at the end of the day, it’s not what satisfies me, if that makes sense.”