Scottie Scheffler joins Tiger Woods with latest victory
Scottie Scheffler – 2024 Travelers Championship/James Gilbert/Getty Images
We’ve spent some time looking for the next Jack Nicklaus, the next Arnold Palmer or even the next Tiger Woods, but we still have the first Scottie Scheffler in front of us. A man who has already won six times this season. The last person to do that was Tiger Woods in 2009, according to the PGA Tour. And the season isn’t finished yet.
It’s unlikely that Scheffler will beat Byron Nelson and win 18 titles on the year, but it’s hard to believe he won’t win one or two more tournaments he enters this season. With a newborn, you don’t need any extra supplies or extra motivation, but you do get more opportunities to play. “I don’t really define myself by winning or losing, so I’ll just try my best to compete with the right mindset,” he said after winning the season’s flagship Travelers Tournament. “It’s been a great year, so I’m grateful for some wins.”
Many players set goals at the beginning of the season. Others set them for their career, like the much-heralded poster of Nicklaus’ victories that was on Woods’ bedroom wall when he was a youngster.
Scheffler says he doesn’t do goal setting. He particularly doesn’t do long term goal setting.
“I have what I would call dreams and aspirations and those will probably never change, but as far as goals for the year, nothing really changes for me,” he explained. Their system has been successful on difficult courses like Augusta National and Muirfield Village, as well as easier courses like TPC River Highlands, where Jim Furyk and Cameron Young both shot 59s and Furyk shot 58s. Scheffler even explained that he generally performed poorly on the lower scoring courses.
“I just feel like I just couldn’t get across the finish line all the time in tournaments where penalties are important,” he said. “I feel like most of my wins have come on harder tracks, so it’s nice to be here where putting is so important and making the right putt when you need it is so important.”
That’s why he felt a different kind of satisfaction from this win. If there’s a downside to this win, it’s that he beat his good friend Tom Kim in a playoff.
“It’s hard, because part of me wants him to miss the putt and part of me wants him to make it,” Scheffler admitted. “Then when I see him bogey the playoff hole, it hurts and it doesn’t feel good because he’s my friend.”
He credited Kim’s shot as the reason the tournament went to a playoff.
“That shot in the 18th game was special and I’m sure he’ll remember it,” Scheffler added. In addition to the excitement of the victory, there was another brush from the law execution organization. But I was happy. As the final three — Scheffler, Kim and Akshay Bhatia — approached, some of the so-called climate change protesters swarmed the 18th green. They were picked up and arrested by police so quickly that no one could figure out what they were doing. The attackers also exploded a gasoline can, releasing a red substance from the hole, and tons of a white substance from two other locations in the green zone.
The USGA said they were apparently unaware that golf is an environmentally friendly activity that helps sequester carbon from the atmosphere and improve air quality. Apparently, they were the first to throw a smoke bomb without heeding a set of facts.
Greenstaff showed up and cleaned up the mess so the golfers could finish the match, but Scheffler said Kim did so, forcing a playoff. Afterwards, new bowls were cut, the remaining material on the green was cleaned up, and the playoff between Scheffler and Kim began. Scheffler won the first hole of the playoff, earning his sixth win of the season.
