"He doesn't care to be a superstar. He's not transcending the game like Tiger did. He just wants to get away from the game and separate the two... because he felt it was too much."
This is what long-time friend and now-fellow Open Championship winner Jordan Spieth told pgatour.com about the dominant golfer of today.
Scottie Scheffler cruised to victory at Royal Portrush, by four shots, to claim his second major win of the year and fourth of his career, but his week felt as attached to what was said off the course as much as his brilliance on it.
Easy to be framed out of context, the world number one played down the significance of winning golf events to his life. He told a flummoxed press room:
"Showing up at the Masters every year, it's like, why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win the Open Championship so badly?
"I don't know. Because if I win, it's going to be awesome for two minutes. Then we're going to get to the next week and it's: 'how important is it for you to win the FedExCup Playoffs?' And we're back here again.
"I'm not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what's the point?
"This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart."
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What the 29-year-old meant was that golf is incredibly important to him. He has worked so hard to get to where he is, and revels in the relief and joy of winning, but does it supersede the importance of his growing family? No.
He added: "I'm blessed to be able to come out here and play golf, but if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that's going to be the last day that I play out here for a living."
Such depths of feeling are inevitably subjective. To some, golf is everything and is their current priority. That does not make them crazy nor obsessive, it's just where their priorities lay.
But Scheffler, a deeply religious man, has his own values. Winning is a briefly satisfying pursuit, such is the tight golfing schedule, but competing in the sport is too, or else he would not have dedicated so much of his life to it.
He feels blessed to do something that he loves as a job, and gets paid beyond handsomely for it, but his aspirations are more tailored towards being a good husband and father, both of which he has become in the last half a decade.
His rise to greatness
It was only within the last four years that people doubted whether the man from Texas could become a winner on the PGA Tour. But his form in early 2022 saw him conquer tournaments, reach world number one and wear the green jacket for the first time.
On that weekend of April 2022, Scheffler stormed to his maiden major title and defeated Rory McIlroy by three shots, to win the Masters.
The comparisons between Scottie Scheffler and the former benchmark, Tiger Woods, have already begun.
Two years later, amid his very best form, Scheffler won his second green jacket with a performance that dazzled beyond anybody's reach. Winning the Masters again, this time by four strokes, there were even whispers of a potential calendar grand slam win, such was his brilliance.
No major would follow for the rest of 2024. However, he ended the year with nine wins, which included an Olympic gold medal, the FedEx Cup and the Players' Championship, as well as his already-mentioned second Masters win.
But this year he has doubled his major tally by converting 54-hole-leads at both the PGA Championship and Open Championship, and won serenely.
That means Scheffler needs just the US Open to complete the career grand slam, the next of which has its final round on his 30th birthday, in June 2026.
The Tiger Woods comparisons have only become louder and more frequent, despite the former benchmark boasting a record of 15 majors, compared to Scheffler's four. Though Scheffler plays this down, what makes him so good to be compared to legends before him?
His far-reaching brilliance
The world's best player is incredibly well-rounded. He drives the ball well, despite finding just three fairways during his first round, on Thursday; his wedge and iron play are outstanding; his approach play is among the very best and his distance control is premier.
Add an improved putting record; which was his nemesis at the previous week's Scottish Open and his less outstanding asset in previous years, but the core of his Portrush dominance; he is the complete package.
How many times did he recover from errant shots, whether in the rough or away from the greens, in part due to his putting?
Or even when he dropped two shots at the eighth hole, for the only time that weekend, how did he respond? By taking a shot back from the course by shooting a birdie at the ninth.
“My faith & my family is what’s most important to me… I don’t think I’m anything special because some weeks I’m better at shooting a lower score than other guys are.” 👏
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) July 20, 2025
- British Open Champion Scottie Scheffler pic.twitter.com/sRSLwYgY5a
Even if a player lacks one of the listed assets, they are already behind the world number one. Whether it is a links course, or a somewhere more common to the US, his game deals with any threat that currently seeks to thwart him.
His mentality and calmness of mind is at the core of this, allowing him to be perhaps the sport's best player since Woods.
Why Scheffler has his detractors
Scheffler is robotic-like in his execution and, when someone is so good at that, there will inevitably be apathy and resentment towards their success.
As three-time major winner Spieth has already mentioned, Scheffler does not take part to inspire fans and he will make no apologies for that. He does not play to grow the game, he does not deem it as his job.
He is there to compete, earn enough to support his family and if he wins, a dream has been conquered and it genuinely means a lot. But is it not everything to him.
He is not going to embrace the support like two-time major winner Bryson DeChambeau and he is not going to be the face of golf in the way that Tiger Woods, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer were.
If you are not a golf fan, it is likely that you have heard of Tiger Woods and not of Scheffler, that does not bother the current champion golfer of the year.
Some may call him boring, others point out that his brilliance and mastery of the sport is anything but.
Part of that is down to his interview conduct. His answers are honest, but are not flashy. He is passionate but does not wear his heart on his sleeve, akin to Rory McIlroy.
That does not make one right and the other wrong, they are simply different world class approaches by two generational players.
But make no mistake, it is Scheffler's approach, demeanour and execution that currently reigns supreme and there is a mammoth gulf to those who follow him.