When Scottie Scheffler, 27, starts next Thursday at the US Masters in Augusta, he will lose his grip again – as always. This is the case with the undisputed best golfer in the world at the moment: When he hits the ball with his longest club, the driver, his feet lose contact with the turf. It almost knocks him out of his shoes when he tees off, but the world number one is used to it: this is the only way he can reach distances of around 300 meters. For comparison: His (currently injured) German colleague Bernhard Langer can reach lengths of 250 meters, at most. However, he is already 66 years old and this time he is missing the first major tournament of the year due to a torn Achilles tendon.
Scheffler is considered the “hottest man on earth” in his home country, at least when it comes to golf. About four weeks ago he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the following week the Players Championship, which brought him a total of $8.1 million in prize money. In the final round of the “Players” in Ponte Vedra, Florida, which is unofficially considered the fifth major tournament, the Texan by choice, who was born in New Jersey, played a flawless round of 64 strokes. He managed to do what no one else, not even Tiger Woods, had managed to do: defend his title.
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Scheffler has also already won the Masters in Augusta. That was in 2022, and even then he started as world number one. That’s why he is of course the favorite to win the famous green jacket again, which the winner receives as a sign of honorary membership of the organizing club.
Scheffler was at the top of the world rankings for 81 weeks
The 27-year-old, who appeared on the big golf stage in 2020, currently occupies a special position in golf and has for years; he has been at the top of the world rankings for a total of 81 weeks. But that doesn’t mean that Scheffler is claiming special rights.
Scottie and Meredith Scheffler during the par-3 contest Wednesday at the Masters
What: REUTERS
Following football coach Jürgen Klopp, he remained the “normal one”, the boy next door. He never indulged in escapades. He met his childhood sweetheart in high school and married her in 2020. He and his wife, Meredith Scudder, are expecting their first child in the next few months.
In terms of his CV, Scheffler is almost the opposite of his famous predecessor as the benchmark of all things golf, Tiger Woods. With Scheffler, there can be no question of scandals, a dissolute private life and excessive self-confidence, including an aura that intimidates opponents. He is different: When he felt before the final round of the Masters in 2022 how great the chance of winning in Augusta was, he cried “like a baby” the morning before the last 18 holes, as he later admitted publicly. At that time he felt “not yet ready for the big victory”.
Golf is a family affair at Scheffler
He is now ready, and not only the competition has adjusted to it – his family has too. When he leaves the last green with a smile on his face – as he has done so often recently – two of his three sisters Callie, Molly and Sara (lives in Portugal), his parents Scott and Diane and his grandmother Mary DeLorenzo are almost always there to share his happiness with him.
Scheffler has made golf a family affair – and a matter of faith. He recently said that he couldn’t find the words to thank his parents enough, who “always did their best.” But he thanks God his Lord even more. To honor him, he plays golf, and that’s why his personality is “not determined by a golf result,” he said.
Scheffler with the Players Championship trophy
Those: AP/Marta Lavandier
With such views and insights, the 1.90 meter tall athlete has become a model golfer who seems like the antithesis to the dazzling Tiger Woods, who was no stranger to worldly pleasures and who lived his star cult – with all the (now known) consequences. After all: With Woods he shares his views on the Saudi Arabian LIV Tour, which has been the competing event to the PGA Tour since 2022.
Scheffler resists offers from Saudi Arabia
Since then, the Saudis have been buying the best and most prominent players from the US tour for amounts that are hard to imagine. One of their last coups: The tournament series LIV, financed by the Saudi Arabian Private Investment Fund (PIF), paid an estimated $800 million for the 2023 Masters winner, the Spaniard Jon Rahm, to switch. A sum of one billion dollars is said to have been discussed for Woods. But he waved him away – he is already a billionaire.
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Scheffler was probably offered similar amounts to Rahm, but he doesn’t give in to the ignoble money. His best friend on the tour is his caddy Ted Scott, who has carried the bag of a Masters winner three times – twice that of the American Bubba Watson. Scottie Scheffler shares the values that are important to him. Before Ted Scott moved to Scheffler, he and his family prayed for a week to find an answer to Scheffler’s offer. Apparently it was the right one.
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