Scheffler’s mind over matter provides cutting edge as he seeks FedExCup glory

Golf

Scheffler’s mind over matter provides cutting edge as he seeks FedExCup glory

Published: 15 Aug. 2024, 10:03 Updated: 15 Aug. 2024, 10:04

Scottie Scheffler plays his shot from the fifth tee during the final round of the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands on June 23 Cromwell, Connecticut. [GETTY IMAGES]

Were you to be blessed with the chance to speak for a good length of time with Randy Smith, the only golf teacher Scottie Scheffler has ever worked with, you would be afforded plenty of insight into what makes this dynamo tick.

“He’s relentless,” said Smith. “I mean, always. He plays just as hard in PGA Tour tournaments as he does when he plays with kids and members (at Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas). Trust me, he’s giving 12 or 14 strokes to that banker and trying to beat him badly.”

So in the midst of another brilliant season by Scheffler — he has won six times before July 1, something even Tiger Woods didn’t do, and is the overwhelming favourite to win the Tour Championship and FedExCup — it is worth studying how he is so much more than his golf swing. The Scheffler edge is simply built around his mental game.

“I feel like going out and competing has always been my best skill,” said Scheffler, who kicks off the first of three Playoffs event at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. “When I’m focused on just competing, I think that’s when I play my best. I think that will be my edge when I get kind of get immersed in the joy of competition.”

To study his background is to come away convinced that you can teach a player the fundamentals with the swing and the idiosyncrasies of golf course management, but you cannot teach competitive fire. Most elite players have it to some level, but likely Scheffler was born with more of it than most.

Consider stories of vintage folklore that are sworn to be true by both Smith and Scheffler’s “victims,” players who were on the PGA Tour during his fledgling days. The time, for instance when 10-year-old Scheffler asked Joel Edwards, who was there to get a lesson from Smith, if he wanted to try and hit a pole that was about 100 yards from the tee.

Scottie Scheffler, left, talks with his caddie Ted Scott while preparing to hit a shot from the bunker on the third hole during the first round of U.S. Open Championship at Pinehurst No. 2 at Pinehurst Resort on June 13 in Pinehurst, North Carolina. [GETTY IMAGES]

Waiting for Smith, Edwards said why not. Smith told Edwards not to do it. “The kid will beat you. You can’t beat him,” said Smith. Edwards scoffed. Then he got whooped. “All true,” said Edwards, at the time 35 years older than Scheffler. “He cost me a fortune. I used to carry a bunch of quarters because I knew I’d get my butt beat.”

Imagine the gumption of a 10-year-old who challenged Harrison Frazar to a putting game. “He was tenacious. You couldn’t intimidate him,” said Frazar, who turned professional in 1996 when Scheffler was just five years old.

The game was called “Aces Only,” picked by Scheffler, and he went first. He was successful from 12 feet, Frazar missed, and for the next holes Scheffler chose the hole to play go — his game, his rules – and they were all 40-to-45-footers.

“No one made another ace and he beat me. Gave him a sleeve of golf balls.”

Oh, yes. Frazar’s swing coach, Randy Smith, was there and like he did to Edwards he told his student not to get involved. That’s because even though Scheffler was just 10 years old, Smith saw the unyielding passion to compete that fueled the kid.

Not that he hasn’t fine-tuned that competitive fire in the last 18 years or so. “I think that’s something that I’ve developed over time,” said Scheffler. “I think I was a bit too emotional on the golf course growing up. I’d get pretty frustrated with myself and it would definitely have an effect on my game.”

Maturation is the most wonderful thing when it is mixed with innate skills and a remarkable sense of perspective. Which is to introduce an aspect of the Scheffler story that gets less attention than it deserves. Since he was a kid, Scheffler has been surrounded by PGA Tour pros at Royal Oaks — Edward, Frazar, Justin Leonard, Ryan Palmer, just to name a few — and there’s been consistent mentors in his life.

Scottie Scheffler waits with his coach Randy Smith on the 18th hole prior to The Players Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 12 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. [GETTY IMAGES]

Start with longtime pro golf agent, Rocky Hambric, who met Scott Scheffler more than 20 years ago and when asked by the father where he could bring his on for lessons, it was definitive. Go to Randy Smith.

Hambric’s management company handles Scottie Scheffler’s golf affairs. Smith is still the coach. Royal Oaks is still where Scheffler hangs his hat when he’s home. He resides a few miles from where he went to high school. He married his high school sweetheart. So, yeah, there are routines and relationships in his life that makes it very easy for Scottie Scheffler to remain grounded.

Throw in Scheffler’s immense embrace of Christian faith and a caddie, Ted Scott, who frequently attends bible meetings with his boss and you have a lot of ingredients that make it easier for the world’s No. 1 golfer to be himself.

Which is tenacious between the ropes.

“I have great support,” said Scheffler. “I’m very fortunate to have the support system that I do at home. They’ve all worked extremely hard to put me in this position where I can go out and compete and have fun, and win or lose, they’re going to be there. That’s huge for me.”

For a brief time in Scheffler’s rise, say late 2020 to parts of 2022, being in the lead through 54 holes wasn’t a good thing for the young man. He squandered a chance to win four tournaments in that stretch including the Charles Schwab Challenge in a home game at Colonial when he closed with a two-over 72 and lost to Sam Burns, one of his best friends.

It stung. But if the turnaround in this layer of Scheffler’s game needed an explanation (Scheffler has gone on to win five times with a share of the 54-hole lead in 2024) it would revolve around his commitment to a sense of peace within.

“Being prepared is kind of what I pride myself on. When I step on the firsts tee, I remind myself that I’d done everything I could to play well. The rest is up to me. If things are to go my way, I try to stick to my process and continue to try and execute the shots and not overthink things and just do the best I can.”

This “process” of which Scheffler alludes to is built around being ready to go, and you’d have to say he succeeds marvelously. In 15 tournaments this year (July 1), Scheffler has opened with a score in the 60s 12 times and been top-10 seven times.

Not overthinking things? Amen, folks, because Scheffler has sat in the top-10 through 36 holes 11 times and through 54 holes 10 times. He’s been top-10 in 12 of the 14 tournaments that have gone 72 holes. (The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was called after 54 holes.)

You don’t get that sort of consistency without impeccable preparedness, a commitment to your process, and a mental aura that puts your competition on edge. Does Scheffler intimidate his opposition? Maybe not in vintage Tiger Woods fashion — the stare, the Sunday red, the nearly invincible 54-hole stature.

Scottie Scheffler celebrates with a fist pump after making a birdie putt on the 17th hole green during the final round of the Olympic men's golf competition on day nine of the Paris Olympics at Le Golf National on Aug. 4 in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France. [GETTY IMAGES]

But when you’ve won 25 percent of your starts dating back to 2022 (14 of his last 56), including the Paris Olympics gold medal after a closing 62 recently, you better believe you hold a mental edge over the field.

BY JIM MCCABE [kjdsports@joongang.co.kr]