The ascension of Scottie Scheffler, now a four-time major champion and one leg shy of the career Grand Slam after Sunday’s four-shot Open Championship victory at Royal Portrush, has demanded comparisons.
As with everything in golf from some time last decade until who knows when, Scheffler and anyone else who occupies the game’s throne for a decent spell — Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy — are measured against Tiger Woods.
McIlroy always seemed most like Woods given his power, panache and popularity, but Woods was more of a tactician than most remember and that is certainly a hallmark of Scheffler’s game. The Texan makes his way around golf courses with alarming precision, like all 65 or 66 of his shots were part of a plan he follows to the letter. Woods always had a number in mind, too, and oftentimes he shot exactly the score that was needed to win.
Of course, Woods also played with as much flair as any athlete in the history of sports. By comparison, Scheffler’s personality is a Prius to Woods’s Porsche. He’s like Sam Sheepdog from Looney Tunes: punching a clock in the morning, beating up Ralph Wolf all day and punching back out at quitting time without his pulse ever raising a beat.
“He doesn’t care to be a superstar,†three-time major winner Spieth said of Scheffler after his final round at Portrush. “He’s not transcending the game like Tiger did. He’s not bringing it to a non-golf audience necessarily. He doesn’t want to go do the stuff that a lot of us go do — corporately, anything like that.
“I think it’s more so the difference in personality from any other superstar that you’ve seen in the modern era and maybe in any sport. I don’t think anybody is like him.â€
That doesn’t mean watching Scheffler play golf is boring because he isn’t the one-dimensional bomb-and-gouger that has come to define this era. A lot is made of his swing because of the way his feet shuffle and slide through impact, but it’s how Scheffler controls his golf ball with a variety of shot shapes that’s so mesmerizing.
“Is that another one pin high, Dan?†asked NBC analyst Kevin Kisner, rhetorically, to announcer Dan Hicks after Scheffler’s cutting approach shot into the 18th hole. It was. The exact right shot to the exact right number again and again and again. He’s like a pitcher with an array of ways to get the ball over the plate and fool hitters.
Could you imagine being Ted Scott, Scheffler’s caddy? Just hand your man a club and smile as though you’re a back catcher throwing down a sign to Greg Maddux and then waiting for the ball to hit your mitt. You want a comparison to Scheffler? How about the man who ho-hummed his way to four consecutive National League Cy Young awards from 1992 to 1995.
“He is as consistent as a metronome and, to the casual eye, about as exciting.â€
Those words were written by the great Tom Verducci and you could lift, clean and place them in any piece on Scheffler today. But the real genius of Verducci’s line is the inclusion of “casual eye.â€
The same way Scheffler doesn’t overpower golf courses like McIlroy or Bryson DeChambeau, Maddux didn’t blow balls by hitters the way Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson did. He moved the ball in all directions, painting corners and fooling sluggers. Clemens and Johnson were the guys with the gaudy velocity numbers; Maddux was the guy other pitchers aspired to be, entertaining for a different reason.
Scheffler is like a crafty pitcher on the golf course. At one point on Sunday, commentator Jim (Bones) MacKay described Scheffler’s club choice as a “junior golf 9-iron,†which was a clever way of saying Scheffler was taking more club than needed to flight a ball down toward a back flag. On cue, Scheffler carved a three-quarter shot into the green and his ball landed — you guessed it — pin high. The corners of his lips never curled. He converted the birdie putt and marched to the next tee.
Perhaps the best thing about Scheffler is that he probably could play the game another way. He is a big, fit man who hits the ball long, averaging 306 yards off the tee, although that ranks only 69th in driving distance on the PGA Tour. But he sees shots and plays shots — off the tee and into greens — and that’s a beautiful craft to observe. Like Maddux, who had above-average velocity with his fastball early in his career, Scheffler’s success comes not just from speed but from spin. He’s in full control, mind and body, all the time.
“None of us could hang with Scottie this week,†said McIlroy, who finished seven shots back in a tie for seventh at the Open. “He’s an incredible player. He’s been dominant this week. Honestly, he’s been dominant for the last couple years. He is the bar that we’re all trying to get to.â€
Like Maddux, a.k.a. the Professor, Scheffler is far and away the head of the class.
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