If golf fans and media members used the word “bored” in connection with Scotty Scheffler, they revoked their master qualifications, took away the golf club, and the country club logo polo shirt burned in a pile of ashes.
Because if you witness and don’t recognize the glow, ruthlessness and efficiency of the greatest player you’ve seen since Tiger Woods, what’s the point of this game?
Over the past few years, it has become popular for Schaeffler to rise and dismiss him as an entity personality regardless of his performance on the course. There’s too much vanilla. Too modest. Too healthy. Too many ordinary guys to lure the public are watching the major championships on Sunday.
If Woods dominated the Open Championship as Schaeffler did this weekend, if they culminated with a four-stroke victory and a fourth major title, it would be a national event. Schaeffler doesn’t have such a pull now, but probably never. No one would do that.
But to downplay Schaeffler is to completely miss the point, as Schaeffler doesn’t produce such fan adoration or ignore the fascinating moments he’s making now for golf.
If someone isn’t fascinated by watching them run around their peers in a sport that isn’t supposed to create a week of domination a week a week, did you like golf in the first place? If you choose the right strategy in almost every hole, control distances far better than anyone on the planet, and don’t enjoy players who are now increasingly becoming Ussan’s clutch putters on major weekends, the pickle ball is your speed.
What, would you like to give Schaeffler a little more fist pump? Start beef with Rory McIlroy and Bryson Dechambeau? Revealing a nasty personal life with a bash-in windshield?
Sorry, but that’s not how the Schaeffler era is down. Nor is it an obsessive march to Woods on the highest count of all time, just as Woods dedicated his career to chasing the record of 18-year-old Jack Nicklaus.
In fact, every time Schaeffler inevitably wins the US Open to complete a career grand slam, he may just go home to Texas, knowing there is no further increase in the legacy of the game.
And because of what Schaeffler revealed at his press conference before the opening began, we can speculate about the possibility. The question was about the time Schaeffler celebrated his victory. It was then a 494-word answer that explained the phenomenon of many elite athletes, especially in this generation, who are inherently understanding but hesitate to speak publicly.
“It feels like I’m working for a lifetime to celebrate winning a tournament, like a few minutes,” Schaeffler said. “It lasts for just a few minutes and I feel that euphoria. To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally worked well in golf and got the chance to win that tournament.
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and accomplish what I have in the game of golf? Yeah, I literally worked my whole life to be good at this sport, which brings tears to my eyes. I think it’s pretty cool to have that kind of sense of accomplishment. The best player in the world is that this is not a fulfilling life, so it’s fulfilling.
He went on to discuss wrestling matches in his mind while he was desperately hoping to win tournaments such as the Masters and realising that he would move on to the next one as soon as it was over.
“At the end of the day, sometimes I don’t understand the point,” he said.
If only the forest had said something half It makes an interesting or revealing about his state of mind. Instead, he spent most of his major reflux, keeping his most human qualities private until he unintentionally spilled into the public realm.
But Woods was a different phenomenon. He literally changed the game with the length of the tee, his physicality, his black and Asian identity, his charismatic celebrations. It was fascinating and thrilling to see it in real time, as his victory is often inevitable.
Schaeffler’s superpower is that he clearly isn’t. need this. He is driven to be great, but he is 29 years old and realizes that if he wins four majors or 14, his life will not be different in a meaningful way.
And recently there have been a lot of wins: 17 people in the past 80 tournaments on the PGA Tour with a statistical profile that brings you far closer to Woods than most people recognize.
Schaeffler crushed the field this week at the Royal Portrush, clinical, skilled and often breathtaking. Perhaps such a monotonous victory doesn’t sell many golf clubs and watches to casual fans, but it’s real for players who should be accused of bored the public in a way.
