Last year, Rory McIlroy reached the idyllic Pebble beach and he announced wanted to play more like Scottie Scheffler. The plan was to fight his aggressive urges, take the smart route and never shoot himself out of a tournament. If you give yourself more chances to win, as Scheffler does, eventually the cards will fall more and more in your favor.
McIlroy won that week. Then he won the Players before the completion of the career Grand Slam at the Masters. Then, Scheffler dominated summer and autumn.
A year later, McIlroy returned to one of the great cathedrals of golf as the defending champion and asked to recap Scheffler’s run at the top of the golf world, which included a streak of 17 consecutive top 10s (18 if you include the World Hero Challenge) entering the week. Scheffler’s most recent top 10 was a T3 at the WM Phoenix Open where opened with a 2-over 73 before going 65-67-64 in the final three rounds to miss the playoff by one stroke.
McIlroy criticized his inconsistency last year after the Masters while praising Scheffler’s ability to put things together and climb the leaderboard whether or not he has his A-game. A word and a golf icon came to mind for McIlroy.
“He’s relentless,” McIlroy said.
“I’ll never stop singing Scottie’s praises because he’s outstanding at what he’s doing and how he’s doing it, and it’s never — I’ve had nice runs like that, but I’ve always been a little bit more up and down,” McIlroy said. “I think anybody who wants to catch Scottie or get anywhere close is going to have to consistently bring that kind of game week in and week out like he has. He’s really the first since Tiger to do that.”
Last week in Phoenix, Scheffler revealed a layer of his greatness when he talked about how he was so discouraged after his first round that he didn’t even want to try to get it out of the dirt. But his competitive drive to not only make the cut but to continue to be a consistent presence at the top of the table won out. Where some players have down weeks or let the rope slip when faced with an early climb up the leaderboard, part of Scheffler’s greatness lies in his unwillingness to give up.
With McIlroy’s praise still hanging in the air over Stillwater Cove, Scheffler went to work making it real.
The World No. 1 opened with an even-par 72, going 10 shots clear of 18-hole leader Ryo Hisatsune. Scheffler admitted that after his first round it would be difficult to hit the ground running, but he would do his best. A second-round 66 followed. Then a 67. Still, Scheffler remained eight shots behind 54-hole leader Akshay Bhatia. The hill was steep. But Scheffler’s greatness is built into his preparation and process. It looks above golf because it focuses on the micro – the next step – rather than the macro.
“I didn’t really have any crazy expectations or anything that day, I just wanted to show up and have a good attitude and play good golf,” Scheffler said Sunday along the Pacific Coast.
He opened with a birdie on the first and an eagle on No. 2. He made three birdies, made an eagle on six and followed it up with another birdie.
Merciless.
He made the turn in six-under 30 and suddenly was two out of the lead. Scheffler birdied 10 and 11 and suddenly tied for the lead. He slipped back with bogeys at 12 and 15 sandwiching a birdie at 14. Scheffler arrived at the final hole likely needing an eagle to have a chance at a playoff. With the wind howling off the Pacific Ocean, Scheffler split the fairway on the par-5 and then stuffed his approach from 186 yards to under three feet. He rolled in the layup to tie the lead and post 20 down.
Merciless.
The gravitational pull of unyielding greatness is hard to escape. On Sunday, Collin Morikawa barely escaped Scheffler’s grasp, playing the final four holes in two under to capture his first win in over 800 days.
For Scheffler, it was a T4 finish after another opening round where he remained in neutral. But it was also another example of what McIlroy and others know and feel at every stop at which they see him alongside Scottie Scheffler. His name is a fixture on the leaderboard because he wants it to be.
“I’m very proud of sticking with it, not giving up even when I felt like things were going against me this week. I kept fighting, I kept trying to hit, I kept trying to execute,” Scheffler said.
Expect the same story next week at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera. At this point, there’s no reason to expect anything different.
“>
