Scottie Scheffler seeks RBC Heritage win as top players try to close gap

Golf

Published: 18 Apr. 2024, 12:48 Updated: 18 Apr. 2024, 16:17

Scottie Scheffler seeks RBC Heritage win as top players try to close gap

Scottie Scheffler of the United States watches his shot during the Pro-Am prior to the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links on Wednesday in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. [YONHAP]

Scottie Scheffler isn’t much of a celebrator. He famously spent the week after his 2022 Masters victory going to The Home Depot, buying lawn equipment and cleaning his backyard for four days straight.

So it was a surprise when photos of Scheffler gleefully hanging at a Dallas bar in his green jacket surfaced late Sunday, hours after his second Masters win.

“I don't remember who suggested it, but it seemed like a good idea, and when Meredith picked us up at the airport, it still seemed like a good idea,” Scheffler said. “Meredith was down, so we went for probably 20 minutes and went home.”

Twenty minutes and done. That’s it.

Scheffler isn’t quite a party animal yet, but it’s a start. He didn’t have time to relish the victory even if he wanted to. It’s back to business. After decompressing with family and friends Monday and Tuesday, Scheffler was back bright and early, prepping for the RBC Heritage on Wednesday. He played the back nine of Harbour Town Golf Links and spent the afternoon working on his putting with coach Phil Kenyon. He admitted he’s “tired,” but don’t expect that to affect his game much this week in Hilton Head. He has no intention of mailing it in.

“I left my pregnant wife at home to come here and play in a golf tournament. I am here to play and hopefully play well. I'm not here just for fun,” Scheffler said.

The rest of the field may wish he was. How much of an advantage Scheffler holds over the rest of the field has been the talk of the week at Harbour Town. Ludvig Åberg, who finished runner-up to Scheffler at Augusta National, admitted there’s a sizable gap. So did Wyndham Clark, who was second to Scheffler at Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass. Max Homa took it to another level, calling Scheffler “one of the best players I think we'll ever see."

“Scottie is tremendously talented and a hard worker and sadly, a better person. I wish I could hate him,” Homa said with a laugh. “But it's not utterly shocking what he does. He just does it over and over and over again. That's amazing. I feel like he almost makes it seem very realistic that we should do that.”

Max Homa lines up a putt on the eighth hole on the final day of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia on April 14. [YONHAP]

Right now, it’s realistic for only one man.

Scheffler has twice as many FedExCup points as Wyndham Clark, who is No. 2 in the standings. Scheffler has already outpaced his 2022-23 season-long points total, achieving in nine events what it took him 20 events to do a year ago. He is far and away the No. 1 player in the Official World Golf Ranking, with a larger margin over No. 2 than any No. 1 has had since Tiger Woods in 2009.

He’s the barometer, plain and simple. That consensus had firmly formed as the top players cycled through the RBC Heritage media center until Scheffler arrived.

“How big of a gap do you feel there is?” a reporter asked.

“I don't really spend much time thinking about that kind of stuff,” Scheffler said. “You know, I won the tournament last week and now we're here and it's Wednesday and we're all even par again. It seems like to me in my head that everything starts over each week, so it doesn't matter what I'm ranked going into the week.”

Of course, that is true. But it’s not how it feels for everyone else. Scheffler has not shot a round over par yet this year. He leads the Tour in birdie average and bogey avoidance. Just one player has beaten him in his last four starts. When he tees off Thursday at 10:30 a.m. with Jordan Spieth, Scheffler will be the favorite to win his fourth event in five starts, Masters hangover be damned.

Scottie Scheffler reacts after missing a putt on the 10th hole during the third round at the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 13 in Augusta, Georgia. [AP/YONHAP]

Perhaps that’s the benefit of being at the top. There’s no need to think. As Rory McIlroy said at the Masters, when you’re on, you’re thinking about nothing – not about the golf swing and not about where the competition is or what they are doing. The rest of the PGA Tour isn’t afforded that clarity. They’re left to brainstorm how to close the gap.

“I think everyone looks at themselves in the mirror and goes, ‘What do I need to get better at?” Clark said. “Because you feel like you're playing good golf and you're not beating him.”

“I'm sure the guys felt the same way when Tiger was winning every tournament that he stepped foot on,” Brian Harman said. “It feels like right now that if Scottie shows up with anything above a B game he's probably going to be right there.”

PGATour.com

BY PAUL HODOWANIC [kjdsports@joongang.co.kr]