Scottie Scheffler eyes golf greatness with grounded mentality

HOUSTON – Scottie Scheffler’s second straight PLAYERS Championship title, amidst a neck injury, wasn’t his first rodeo overcoming an ailment to hoist a trophy.

This week at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Scheffler’s fellow Texas native Chandler Phillips shared a story from their high school years, when Scheffler won the 2013 state title as a junior – shortly after rolling his ankle in a game of pickup basketball.

The injury required Scheffler to angle his foot to allow for proper weight shift, playing in sneakers with an ankle brace, but he wasn’t fazed. Considering Scheffler’s generational hand-eye coordination, it’s no surprise that he won the state title, as did his Highland Park team.

“He cocked (his foot) out … almost pointing toward where he was hitting, because he couldn’t turn on it, and he ends up winning state,” Phillips said this week. “I’m just like, ‘Man, get out of here,’ you know?

“He’s just a freak athlete. He’s unbelievable.”

Scheffler returns to his home state for this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park Golf Course, a local municipal course where juniors can play for $10 during the week. Houston residents can watch Scheffler and his fellow TOUR pros compete on the layout they play – nearly 90 years old, renovated in 2019 by Tom Doak – and they might have a chance to witness history.

Scheffler arrives at Memorial Park on the strength of back-to-back PGA TOUR titles at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and THE PLAYERS Championship, where he carded a final-round 64 to become the event’s first back-to-back winner. Scheffler relaxed with family and friends for most of last week, back home in Dallas, before making the 240-mile trip southbound to chase his third straight victory.

No player has won three consecutive TOUR starts since Dustin Johnson in 2017. A freshly shaved Scheffler could become the next, amidst a mind-bending run of ball-striking; he leads the TOUR this season in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (0.966) and Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (1.268). Not even a tweaked neck, which required mid-round treatment Friday, could slow Scheffler at TPC Sawgrass. (Considering that anecdote from high school, this should come as no surprise.)

In addition to elite technique and golf IQ, Scheffler’s secret sauce lies in the intangibles. He doesn’t make any moment bigger than it is, fueled by a grounded perspective. His three sisters and wife Meredith are among those who keep his ego in check; he joked at THE PLAYERS that Meredith would “smack me on the side of the head” if he started parading his trophies around the house.

Five years ago, Scheffler accepted 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year honors in a press conference at the Texas Children’s Houston Open (then contested in October), after a season that included 10 top-10s in 20 starts, including two victories. Earlier that fall, he was asked a simple yet profound question at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship: What’s the best part of life?

“Life’s important to spend it with people that you enjoy,” he said at the time. “If you don’t have a few quality close friends, I don’t really think whatever you’re doing is worth it, because you want to be able to enjoy it with somebody.”

Scheffler was asked Wednesday if that sentiment remained true, amidst the professional success that has led him to eight TOUR titles and the No. 1 spot (comfortably) on the Official World Golf Ranking.

“I definitely stand by that statement,” Scheffler said Wednesday. “It's funny, it seems like you think my life would have changed a lot, but it really only has changed out here … It’s really special to be able to go home and celebrate with friends. Winning is fun, but it only lasts a few seconds or a few minutes …

“But when you get home and you get to celebrate with people and those that we're closest to, those really are the most special times.”

“Special” is also an operative word when it comes to his game. As a TOUR rookie, Scheffler shot 59 at TPC Boston in the 2020 FedExCup Playoffs – the first Scheffler experience for Tony Finau. “I knew he was special from that moment on,” Finau said this week.

Peter Malnati, winner of last week’s Valspar Championship, evoked comparison to 82-time TOUR winner Tiger Woods.

“Anytime anyone asks me about Scottie, I bring it back to Tiger,” said Malnati, who will play alongside Scheffler and Will Zalatoris for the first two rounds in Houston. “The thing that impressed me when I played with Tiger (at The Genesis Invitational in 2019) was even … a little bit hobbled, well past his top form, he was by far the best iron player I've ever seen, ever, ever seen. So to see that Scottie Scheffler over years now has put up similar-type Strokes Gained numbers to Tiger, that is phenomenal.”

World No. 4 Wyndham Clark, not one to concede expectations of winning, even noted that trading titles with Scheffler for the season’s next stretch would be a satisfactory outcome. (Clark has finished runner-up to Scheffler in his last two starts.)

Back in high school, Phillips was just waiting for Scheffler to graduate, he joked this week. Phillips, one grade younger, waited patiently as Scheffler rattled off state titles in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The next year (with Scheffler a freshman at the University of Texas), Phillips won states, playing for Huntsville High School.

“He finally got out of there,” Phillips said.

Scheffler impresses his peers more and more each day, but it’s rare for him to impress himself. Not as a Texas high schooler, adjusting his stance after injury and getting to work – and not now.

Therein, perhaps, lies the secret.