Winning has clearly changed Scottie Scheffler.
He’s pocketed more than $3.6 million after winning both his first and second PGA Tour events in his career in Phoenix and Bay Hill.
So he’s splurged.
“Lots of chips and queso,” he cracked Tuesday afternoon.
And that’s about it. Tex-Mex enchiladas aside, Scheffler ain’t changing a damn thing. He knows what works for him and sticks to that routine. He’s very plain-spoken, not given to excess in his game or his personality.
Scheffler’s about as unflappable as they come and an immense talent, which goes a long way in explaining why he found the winner’s circle on the Tour twice and flirted with three major championships in just his third full year.
But when he was pressed to name any outlandish luxury he splurged on since his great financial windfall, he admitted he’s not much for extravagance.
In fact, he still drives his father’s old 2012 Yukon, well over 180,000 miles on the odometer notwithstanding.
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And why does he still drive the car he drove in high school at ritzy Highland Park, of all places, and at the University of Texas when he’s already cashed in $5.3 million on the Tour behind only Players Championship winner Cam Smith’s $5.8 million this year?
“It runs,” he said.
The 25-year-old Dallas native is a bottom-line kind of guy. Whatever works. And this approach has definitely worked in his favor in his results-based profession because he eventually broke through in his third full season on the Tour and finished first in his 65th career tournament, capturing the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Three weeks later, he won the Arnold Palmer Invitational for his second victory in three starts.
Tom Kite can relate.
The unofficial host for the World Golf Championship-Dell Technologies Match Play tournament remembers the relief he felt when he finally won his first Tour event much later than he anticipated. It took him four years before he won in Philadelphia in 1976, and even though he’d go on to win 18 more tournaments, including a U.S. Open, in a Hall of Fame career, “it was a relief.”
“I thought I’d win in Year One,” Kite said. “Certainly in Year Two. I was sure I’d win in Year Three. I finally did. And then it took me another year and a half until I won my second.”
Even with the long wait, Kite said he never ever thought he couldn’t win on the Tour.
“I never doubted myself,” he said. “Eventually it happened.”
Same for Scheffler. Change anything? Forget it.
“Not really,” he said. “Life off the course is still pretty much the same for me.”
And why change? He’s got both the temperament and the touch to complete an all-around spectacular game with both power and precision and enters his second crack at the Dell Match Play as the No. 5 player in the world. He’ll tee off at 12:30 Wednesday afternoon against Ian Poulter, a match play master.
Yeah, it’s a far cry from the end of 2018 when he sat at No. 1,589 in the official world golf rankings.
He won on the Korn Ferry Tour, exploded onto the PGA Tour scene and did so well on the stage he was an at-large selection to the U.S. Ryder Cup team. Had to be completely in awe and intimidated by the aura of the event at Whistling Straits, right?
Hardly.
As a potentially risky captain’s pick over Patrick Reed or Sam Burns, a nonplussed Scheffler produced 2 1/2 points for the winning American team in an expert pairing with him and Bryson DeChambeau. He sank the pivotal 16-foot putt to defeat Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland, chest-bumping his partner in celebration afterwards, which is news-breaking stuff for a player who’s slightly less stoic than any of the presidents on Mount Rushmore.
We’ve even learned he cried after captain Steve Stricker phoned him to tell him he’s on the team. Next thing we know he’ll be performing on “Dancing with the Stars.”
In head-to-head singles play in the Ryder Cup when the Americans routed the Europeans 19-9, Scheffler took on undefeated Jon Rahm, currently the best player in the world, in the first match of the day Sunday. Scottie’s heart rate might not have even registered. Scheffler smoked him, winning the first four holes en route to a 4-and-3 victory.
Now after playing as a rookie at the Masters and in the Ryder Cup, Scheffler almost expects to win.
He admits he feels more prepared to win a major now after having cut his teeth in them. He’s played in nine majors, made the cut in seven and already has posted four top 10 finishes. Three of those came last year in the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open.
“I will say that, yeah,” he said of being better prepared. “I always felt like I could (win a tournament), but once you accomplish that goal, it’s a little bit different. Mistakes definitely don’t weigh on me as much as they had in the past.”
Others agree.
“Scottie is an unbelievable talent,” said Billy Horschel, the defending Dell champion who held off Scheffler 2 and 1 to win in the final. “He’s going to win a lot of tournaments. I thought he would have done it quicker, but he’s a next-generation talent. I see him winning a major.”
Kite agrees and thinks it may happen sooner or later.
“He’s got major-championship game,” Kite said. “He’s matured.”
And even a less than spectacular game off the tee shouldn’t hurt his chances, not in today’s game.
“You don’t have to drive it straight any more,” Kite said. “You only have to drive it far. Driving it crooked isn’t a weakness any more.”
Just three-plus years later after that low seeding of 1,589th in the rankings, the former Texas All-American has risen to fifth in the world and first in the FedEx Cup standings.
Oh, and he’s gotten married, too, about a year ago. His wife of 15 months, Meredith Scudder, travels with him regularly.
“We get a ton of alone time,” he said. “It’s just the two of us. Feels really like we’re a team. So marriage for me has been awesome.”
You see. Nothing much of anything fazes Scottie Scheffler. Expectations. New marriage. Pressure. Majors. Ryder Cup.
He’s bulletproof.
That said, it’s clear he’s much more at ease in the media center, much more quick to smile, much more relaxed and even willing to crack a joke or two.
And Kite, for one, expects so many more victories to come for Scheffler.
“Yeah, he’s doing OK,” he said. “I think he’s able to afford dinner.”
Tex-Mex for sure, maybe with extra guacamole. Heck, he might even splurge.