Newtown Square (United States) (AFP) – Top-ranked defending champion Scottie Scheffler has turned “bittersweet” feelings over three consecutive runner-up finishes into inspiration ahead of this week’s PGA Championship. The 29-year-old American, who won the PGA and British Open last year after taking the 2022 and 2024 Masters titles, captured his 20th career PGA Tour title at the American Express in January.
Since then, however, Scheffler has settled for second place at the Masters, Heritage, and Doral tournaments. The results left him somewhat pleased yet unsatisfied. “I would say a little bit bittersweet,” Scheffler said. “You know you’re playing good golf, and you’d love to get some wins. Finishing second hurts. But when you reflect and you’re looking at things to work on, there’s a lot less to clean up when you’re finishing second than there is when you’re finishing 30th.”
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Scheffler has finished in the top 10 in each of his past six majors, the longest such run since Vijay Singh’s seven in a row in 2004-2006. With four titles and 16 top-10 finishes in his past 20 major starts, Scheffler arrived at Aronimink well prepared to add to his trophy total. “If my game feels like it’s in a pretty good spot, a lot of it is checking the boxes and making sure things feel the way they should heading into a tournament like this,” Scheffler said. “The last few weeks I’ve played some nice golf, so a lot of it was make sure I got rest, made sure I checked the boxes, and made sure things feel the way I want them to feel heading into a major championship — and just get the mind right to come out here and play.”
Scheffler and second-ranked Rory McIlroy have together won four of the past five majors, but they have never had a Sunday battle down the back nine for a title. It’s not a matchup Scheffler is particularly motivated to have, never mentioning McIlroy by name when asked about it. “I would not say that it drives me,” Scheffler said. “My sources of motivation have always been internal. For me getting better at golf is such an interesting and fun thing to try to accomplish. You’re always toeing the line between getting better and getting worse.”
“When I can go out by myself and practice and have something I want to work on and improve on, that’s one of my favorite things. I also love competition. I don’t like losing. But at the end of the day, I think the preparation, getting ready to come out here and play, is something that I really enjoy. I don’t really think about much else other than that when I’m at home practicing. I don’t really look for a lot of sources of outside motivation.”
– ‘Relentlessness’ – That focus is something McIlroy said impresses him about Scheffler. “It’s his relentlessness, the comfort in which he does the same things over and over,” McIlroy said. “It’s not flashy, but he dots his Is and crosses his Ts and does all the right things. It’s that relentless pursuit of the process and not just letting the outcome happen.”
© 2024 AFP
