Scottie Scheffler studied Tiger Woods — then stole his superpower

PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — If there’s one thing that seems to annoy Scottie Scheffler in the media room, it’s the assumption that any of this is effortless.

“No,” he said simply in an interview earlier this year, asked whether golf was beginning to feel “easy” for him. He said it with a smile, but it was clear how much he meant it. “Easy is definitely not the right word. I feel like what I love about this game is how difficult it is.”

He said something similar after Saturday’s round at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush, a brilliant third-round 67 comprised of 15 pars, two birdies and an eagle as he opened up a four-stroke lead over the rest of the field. As he fielded post-round questions a reporter told Scheffler that it looked “stress-free,” which is understandable, given his clean card. Scheffler was friendly with his answer — he nearly always is — but pushed back on that assumption.

“I think the card could look stress-free, but I had two really nice par saves on the back nine that were key,” he said. He escaped from a gnarly lie at No. 11 and holed a long putt for par. He hacked one from the tangled rough at No. 14 and escaped there with par, too.

“It was a pretty challenging shot,” he said of his second at No. 14. “Fortunately the grass was going with me, but the ball was pretty deep in the grass.”

It’s not easy. He has to tell us; otherwise we’d never know.

I WOULD IMAGINE that watching Scottie Scheffler while you’re rooting for another player is a frustrating experience. Such was the case for the Northern Irish faithful on Saturday. Several groups ahead, red-shirted, red-hot World No. 2 Rory McIlroy ignited the crowd with long putts, flagged irons, even some bizarre buried-ball magic. His eagle at the par-5 12th yielded one of the loudest roars, he said, of his entire career. Euphoria spread from hole to hole, spurred on by good golf and good weather, a festival-like celebration of summer and sport and a homegrown hero.

But Scheffler, off last, heard the roars and pressed on, unyielding, relentless. Ultimately the World No. 2’s scintillating 66 gained him just one shot on the World No. 1.

“Scottie is the best player in the world right now. I think it’s clear for everyone to see,” McIlroy said post-round. “He’s just consistently so good each and every week he tees it up — it’s going to be a tall order to be able to catch him tomorrow.”

Haotong Li is Scheffler’s Sunday playing partner; he’s four shots back in second place and said he feels like that’s about as close as he’ll get. “I’m actually quite looking forward to it. Four shots behind, kind of play for second, especially playing with World No. 1. I just try to play my best out there and hopefully make something happen,” he said.

Xander Schauffele won this tournament last year; he and Scheffler are the only players with multiple majors the last four years. He described the peak golf state as “blackout” and referenced Scheffler as an expert in getting there.

“When I watch Scottie play a lot, he just looks blacked out to me, just doing his thing. He’s just in his own world and nothing’s going to bother him,” Schauffele said. “He gets to that place often, which is a good thing for him.”

That relentlessness seems like Scheffler’s superpower. He goes, and goes, and goes again. He’s closed out nine 54-hole leads in a row. He’s finished T8 or better 10 tournaments in a row. He’s won 15 times worldwide since his last missed cut. Other pros’ best stuff is Scheffler’s ordinary day. That doesn’t mean it’s easy — and I’ll be careful not to say so — but it does mean he’s better at it than they are.

IF YOU’RE A GOLF FAN you likely remember Tiger Woods’ 10. The double-digit disaster came at the 2020 Masters, played in November due to Covid. There had never been a Masters quite like it and Woods, the defending champ, did something he’d never done, ping-ponging across the 12th green en route to the highest single-hole score of his pro career. But Woods responded with something else he’d never done, too: he birdied five of the last six holes coming home, no small triumph of the human spirit. And playing alongside Woods that day, in the final round of his first-ever Masters? Scottie Scheffler.

Scheffler doesn’t necessarily love talking about himself, which means the best way to understand him may be to hear him describe what he likes in others. And one day last year Scheffler volunteered a particularly insightful monologue on Woods’ November comeback and why that moment stuck with him.

“He’s won so many golf tournaments, and he makes a 10 on No. 12 at Augusta, and he birdies five of the last six holes and, I mean, it’s completely meaningless to him; at that stage in his career, what’s the point? And for him just to step up there and completely turn it around — and I kid you not, he hit still to this day three of the best iron shots I’ve ever seen hit coming into those last few holes. It was just unbelievable to watch.

“I just learned a lot by watching him. I mean, the way he competes in this game is different than a lot of players. He puts everything he has into every shot that he hits on the golf course, which I think is a really underrated skill out here. Like when he steps over a ball, at any moment in the golf tournament, whether it’s his first shot on Thursday or the last shot on Sunday, I feel like he is as into it as he could possibly be. I just learned that from watching him, the way he read greens, the way he approached pitch shots and iron shots and tee shots. There was never a moment in that round where he wasn’t going at it a thousand percent, which is a lot easier I think said than done.”

What sticks out is that Scheffler didn’t cite Woods’ physical attributes nor his perfect golf swing but instead the idea that he puts everything he has into every shot. A thousand percent. That’s not easy. It’s not easy. The effort is the point.

On Saturday night I asked Scheffler whether he lets his mind wander during these tournament rounds. If it does, you wouldn’t know it — Scheffler’s generally either staring at his yardage book or at the few feet directly in front of his face.

“I think it would be silly to say that you can never let your mind wander,” Scheffler said, typically unimpressed with himself. “But I think most of what I can control is the time I have when we’re thinking about the shot and when I’m over the ball, and most of that’s just being committed to what I’m doing. So I’m not thinking about wind, I’m not thinking about how the ball is going to bounce. I have a picture of what I want to do, and that’s what I’m committed to try and make happen.”

GOLF WORKS IN FUNNY WAYS. They played in threesomes on Sunday at that 2020 Masters; it was the best way to squeeze in tee times given limited light the time of year. The third alongside Woods and Scheffler? It was Shane Lowry. The year prior he’d won the Open Championship. At Royal Portrush.

Scheffler, leading by four, is chasing Lowry on Sunday, looking to supplant him as defending Portrush champ. He’s chasing Woods, too: not his 15 major championships, necessarily, but his shadow and his ghost and his thousand-percent locked-in level. Scheffler’s level is as high as it’s ever been and it’s as high as anyone’s high since Woods. And still, he climbs higher.

“Tomorrow I’m going to step up there on the first tee and I’m going to be trying to get the ball in the fairway, and when I get to the second shot I’m going to be trying to get that ball on the green. There’s not really too much else going on,” he said, concluding his press conference with a shrug.

It’s simple, when you put it like that.

Just not easy.

Dylan Dethier welcomes your comments at dylan_dethier@golf.com.