The world’s finest golfer, Scottie Scheffler, is in the midst of a patch of type so good that to name it a golden run appears an embarrassing understatement.
He’s the perfect participant on the planet and there’s daylight second.
He is likely to be probably the most dominant participant in any particular person sport on the earth proper now – although Iga Swiatek could make a case on the again of her French Open crown final week.
Scheffler final weekend gained the Jack Nicklaus Memorial Event, his fifth victory of 2024 already. Not since Tom Watson in 1980 has any participant gained 5 tournaments earlier than the US Open, which takes place this weekend with Scheffler an nearly unbackable favorite.
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Scheffler has amassed a staggering pot of prizemoney, greater than $24 million ($36 million AUD) heading into the third main of the 12 months.
And the checklist of occasions he’s successful is about as prestigious because it will get: the Memorial, Masters, Gamers Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational in addition to the RBC Heritage. 5 massive occasions – and 5 wins from his final eight tournaments.
The three weeks he didn’t win? He completed runner-up twice and tied for eighth on the PGA Championship.
However that final consequence – his worst of the season – would possibly find yourself being a very powerful of the lot.
As a result of for all of his brilliance, Scheffler has an issue. Or extra precisely, the PGA Tour has an issue with Scheffler.
He’s not probably the most marketable celebrity.
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At a time when golf’s civil warfare has torn aside the sport for 2 years, the PGA Tour is determined for a public relations increase. And but ever since LIV blew up {the golfing} world in 2022, the perfect participant on the PGA Tour has been a religious Catholic, a quietly-spoken household man who by no means makes a headline for the fallacious causes.
Certain, he’s fiercely aggressive, however he’s unlikely to snap a membership after a poor shot (like Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, or Patrick Reed for instance). He’s not more likely to be repeatedly accused of dishonest (Reed, once more), destroying a golf course (Sergio Garcia) and even loudly swearing (Tiger Woods, or Jon Rahm at this 12 months’s Masters roaring “Go F*** your self. Each drive on the again 9 to the f***ing proper. God rattling, f**ok”).
Scheffler does none of this. He simply turns as much as a golf course, and as a rule, he wins.
There’s an rising sense of inevitability in relation to Scheffler today. Even when rivals play nicely – or higher than nicely – they will’t sustain with him. Scheffler simply grinds his technique to victory.
It was the identical with peak Tiger Woods – solely his larger-than-life persona made it must-watch TV. The Tiger Woods phenomenon introduced golf to the lots. It’s protected to say that Scheffler lacks a lot of that cut-through.
It’s a disgrace, actually. Scheffler’s a superb participant, a supreme competitor, and ¬seemingly a superb particular person as well. He’s simply had his first youngster – then circled and gained one other match.
However that sense of inevitability, mixed together with his no-fuss persona, has led to descriptions of Scheffler as ‘boring’.
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Former American ice hockey star Ryan Whitney mentioned as a lot final 12 months after Scheffler’s Gamers’ Championship win.
He tweeted: “Scheffler is a machine. Simply an unimaginable participant. Appears to come back from a terrific household. His dad advised him ‘be a greater particular person than a golfer’. Superior stuff”.
That was good sufficient. Then he added: “Having mentioned all that, he’s so boring. Does nothing for me. If he runs away with the Masters once more and ruins Sunday I’ll snap”, he concluded.
Once more, this isn’t Scheffler’s fault. He’s brazenly spoken about golf being only one a part of his life. His religion and his household are equally vital – and that’s a superb factor.
However with LIV doing its finest to splinter the golf world, the PGA Tour is determined for brand new stars to emerge which have broader cut-through and marketability – and Scheffler simply isn’t that.
Or wasn’t, till probably the most unlikely sports activities story of the 12 months.
On the PGA Championship final month, Scheffler was arrested making an attempt to drive into the match. He had had a misunderstanding with a police officer amid chaotic site visitors outdoors the gates, after a pedestrian was killed earlier within the morning in a tragic crash.
The world’s finest golfer – and probably the most unassuming – was filmed in handcuffs, being dragged away whereas calling out to a journalist for assist. And this was throughout one of many 4 majors!
Because of movie crews close by (additionally caught within the site visitors), it hit the information instantly and predictably went gangbusters. His mug shot – orange jail jumpsuit and all – was beamed all over the world.
The no-nonsense, calm and humble golfer, tossed in a jail cell. The costs had been damning: second-degree assault of a police officer, third-degree felony mischief, reckless driving, and disregarding alerts from an officer. There was even an accusation of “dragging the officer together with his automobile.”
Tee occasions that day had been delayed by a few hours. Scheffler managed to get out in time and raced to Valhalla, the place he was greeted like a rock star. ‘Free Scottie’ was emblazoned throughout a whole bunch of shirts – some swiftly scribbled by hand, others offered by opportunistic peddlers outdoors the gates. The Scheffler mugshot was simply as fashionable for T-shirt designers – and Scheffler was even photographed high-fiving some followers carrying these shirts. Some stories claimed he cracked a joke or two with followers. Actually he smiled.
As he walked to the observe vary simply earlier than his spherical, one fan yelled out that Scheffler’s mug shot was “higher than Tiger (Woods)’”.
“Bankrupt town,” yelled one other. “Make town pay!” was a 3rd cry from a fan, in accordance with The Guardian.
Golf’s sedate celebrity was all of a sudden on the centre of a competition ambiance, far faraway from the standard stately scenes within the US Open galleries. Followers roared as one as he teed off – it’d simply have been the loudest ovation he’s ever acquired.
Then, nearly past comprehension, Scheffler fired a five-under par 66. And he nonetheless wasn’t executed.
“After beginning the day by being arrested, then firing a 66 within the second spherical of the PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler went to the observe inexperienced for extra work. Then signed autographs and took selfies all the way in which up the hill to the clubhouse earlier than he left,” ESPN’s Marty Smith mentioned.
Not that Scheffler was too proud of all of it, simply stoic.
“I really feel like my head remains to be spinning,” he mentioned. “I did spend a while stretching in a jail cell. That was the beginning of my warm-up. If something summed up the completely weird day completely, it was that.
“I used to be fairly rattled to say the least,” Scheffler added. “I used to be by no means offended. Simply in shock. I used to be shaking.”
The burden of the state of affairs sunk in after that day, Scheffler mentioned later. He slipped to a two-over 73 within the third spherical, however rebounded to complete the match with a 65.
Scheffler had been arrested, watched replays of his personal arrest on tv in a jail cell, and nonetheless ended the match 13-under total and in a tie for eighth.
As world quantity three Rory McIlroy joked in a single day: “The one factor that took him from successful a golf match was going right into a jail cell for an hour.
“I describe it as is ‘relentless.’ It looks like each time he exhibits up, he’s the man to beat, and deservedly so.
“Undoubtedly the perfect participant on the earth on the minute by a good distance. It’s as much as us to attempt to get to his degree.”
Within the weeks after that incident, all the fees towards Scheffler had been dropped, prosecutors and police agreeing with the star’s declare that the incident was all a “massive misunderstanding”.
His spotless file is restored. However the public notion of the American has nicely and actually modified – and his human, uncooked response to the surreal incident has minimize by way of the shroud that outlined him as ‘boring’.
McIlroy hasn’t been alone in poking enjoyable at Scheffler. And similar to he did on the PGA Championship when followers cheekily sported his mug shot, Scheffler has smiled again.
Early this week, a golfer at an occasion at Wildwood Nation Membership in Louisville arrived at that match day driving a black van (like Scheffler’s) with a model dressed as a police officer hooked up to it, dragging alongside the bottom. Loudly blaring by way of the van’s audio system was the music “Dangerous Boys”.
Like movies of Scheffler’s arrest, that parody went viral too.
And Scheffler heard all about it, together with from world quantity two Xander who gained that PGA Championship.
“It’s form of onerous to not chuckle concerning the man who did that,” Scheffler mentioned. “Xander did inform me about it yesterday. He bought a reasonably good kick out of it.”
Scheffler is likely to be getting sick of speaking about his arrest, however he can’t cease his good buddies from joking about it.
“Like I mentioned, I don’t love reliving it, however typically with the ability to chuckle about it’s a good ability, too,” Scheffler mentioned.
“Once they make jokes, it’s undoubtedly onerous to not chuckle, particularly with a few of my good buddies, they’re fairly humorous with it.”
“That’s a part of simply having good buddies,” he added. “If all they did was make enjoyable of me, it will be totally different. It wouldn’t be as enjoyable.
“However they’re nice guys, they usually’re nice buddies. So that you’ve bought to have the ability to look within the mirror and chuckle at your self, too.”
And that’s the factor about Scheffler. Within the area of some weeks, he’s turn into a first-time father, bought arrested, gained one other massive match – and went from being boring to being liked.
Because the Irish Instances wrote: “You’ve bought handy it to Scheffler, he’s doing his finest to shed the boring tag. He clearly took all these jibes about him being uninteresting to coronary heart. His new son is just a few days outdated and what’s his response been? Hop on a airplane, go play golf, get arrested. That’s some Nineteen Seventies s*** proper there. The dangerous boys over on LIV can solely dream of being that form of insurgent.”
Or ask his rival, Max Homa, what he thinks about Scheffler.
“I noticed any individual on the web say he’s boring,” Homa mentioned.
“I might think about that’s what you’d dream of, to turn into the perfect participant on the earth and somebody who’s going to set information and win a bunch of majors. You wish to play as boring of golf as you’ll be able to, you need it to be as even-keeled as you’ll be able to. You’d suppose that’s what you’d construct in a lab.”
Boring on the course? Possibly. However for Scheffler, boring means successful.
And due to one unlucky, stunning misunderstanding, you’ll be able to’t argue that he’s boring off the course.
It may need been simply what he – and the PGA Tour – wanted.