It's Scheffler ............ and the rest
World No. 1 separates himself, even from McIlroy; Stray Shots Open edition
Scottie Scheffler may hold the reins to world No. 1 for years (Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
I’m on vacation, but I have been thinking about the Scottie Scheffler show that ended on Sunday night with another spectacular performance and felt the need to put pen to paper, or in this case, fingers to a keyboard.
The Scheffler phenomenon is now real.
Where in the past you could argue he may not have the game for links golf, he turns around and shoves a 64 down everyone’s throat in the second round and then follows it up with a 67-66 on the weekend for a four-shot victory over Harris English.
By the way, go on, you Harris, you likely claimed a spot in the Ryder Cup with that performance.
Back to the world’s No. 1, he was so cool and yet so dominant. He made everyone work hard to accomplish a goal they were never going to achieve — catch Scheffler.
Even when he posted a double bogey on the eighth hole, it barely scratched the surface of Scheffler’s confidence. He just kept marching on to the enviable.
Winning isn’t everything to Scheffler — with his wife, Meredith, and son, Bennett, that he dotes over a priority — but it’s a close second.
As you see him walk up the fairway after a shot, survey a putt or walk from a green to the next tee, it’s always a walk of quiet determination, little emotion and usually with his eyes down.
His fellow competitors aren’t exactly scared of him, but they are in awe.
Many wax poetically about the man who is so far on top in the world rankings, it may take years to dislodge him from his lofty perch.
In Greek mythology, Scheffler is Zeus. The demigods beneath him have not even reached the top of Mt. Olympus.
I know we believed that when Rory McIlroy won the Masters and completed the career slam, a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders and he would start to win majors in bunches, somehow making us forget about Scheffler.
Well, that proved to be pure poppycock.
Instead, what happened was that Scheffler found his stride after recovering from cutting himself trying to form ravioli with a broken wine glass. McIlroy briefly checked out and took a little time to assess his future.
It’s a future where McIlroy won’t always have to look over his shoulder to see where Scheffler is. Scheffler is right there in front of him.
That’s not much different than when Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson would look up at the leaderboard to see where that Woods guy was — typically at the top.
The saddest part about the Open being over is that we won’t get to see Scheffler compete in another major until the Masters in April 2026 and go for his own career slam in the U.S. Open at Shinnecock until June.
I’m not one to say the focal point of the season comes and goes too soon or that we should add a couple more big events, but it’s still depressing that we have to wait so long for another major.
On the other hand, that’s what makes them so special.
Stray Shots: Tiger lite and captain’s fodder
By Peter Kaufman
1. Champion Golfer of the Year: Everyone has understandably run out of superlatives for Scottie Scheffler. The bottom line is that the newly crowned Open champion is such a superior ball-striker that even when he putts meh he gets a top-10 finish. And when he putts well, everyone is playing for second place. And his peers well understand that.
It was certainly the latter case at the Open, as Scheffler picked up +8.52 strokes putting on the field, ranked second only to runner-up Harris English’s superlative +8.84.
The Tiger Woods comparisons have ceased to be unfounded, other than that Scheffler got a relatively later start than El Tigre and thinks the narrative is “silly.”
It’s really the unquantifiable that erodes the comparison somewhat — swagger … style … transcending golf. With a personality and a swing that demanded viewer attention and generated world-wide eyeballs, Tiger was in a league of his own.
Scheffler has not — and will not — replace all of that. Just the way it is. That, however, does not detract an iota from admiring Scheffler’s current dominance iover his peers.
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