Scottie Scheffler dropped a 67 on Thursday at the Hero World Challenge, but only after throwing a few pranks on Wednesday.
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This week’s World Challenge of Heroes is not an official PGA Tour event and features a small field of 20 players. As a result, things are a little less serious in the Bahamas compared to a regular season tournament. Scottie Scheffler’s The demeanor in his pre-tournament press conference is proof of that.
While Scheffler has a reputation as an elite on-course trash talker with a great sense of humor, his answers at tour press conferences are usually all business.
But when the questions put to him on Wednesday became more serious than is typical of Hero’s laid-back atmosphere, the world No. 1 decided to have a little fun with reporters in the press room.
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Earlier in the press, Scheffler was repeatedly asked about the role of money in golf, regarding the massive increase in purses in recent years and the Ryder Cup player pay dispute.
So when a reporter asked Scheffler what he and the tournament host Tiger Woods talked about how when Woods visited Scheffler’s group during their Tuesday practice round in Albany, Scheffler took the opportunity to lighten the mood, albeit with a deadpan delivery.
“I think most of the time we just talk about money and how the purses should be bigger,” Scheffler replied with a straight face. “Today we really thought about the Ryder Cup and how it’s such BS that we’ve never been paid. Tiger was really frustrated, he feels like he hasn’t made enough money in his career.”
As Scheffler’s response drew laughter from the media, a wry smile broke across his face. But he wasn’t quite done.
“I feel the same way (as Tiger) — I feel like last year I didn’t get paid enough for what I did,” Scheffler joked. “Mostly that, just a bunch of catching up.”
For the record, Scheffler earned $62 million on the course this year between his tournament earnings and the FedEx Cup bonus.
When the jokes were over, Scheffler took a moment to share what he and Tiger really talked about Tuesday: Tiger’s putting and kids.
“Sometimes I like to pick Tiger’s brain, he’s a great guy to be able to shake things off. Today he’s walking his pitcher, so he started talking about putting a little bit,” Scheffler said. . “He talked about his children. It’s really exciting, when you ask someone about their kids, they always get really excited and that’s really fun for me to be able to do with people because they get really excited and it’s fun to share what’s going on. Tiger is the same way, he always gets excited when he talks about his children.”
As for the Ryder Cup payout, Scheffler also shared some candid thoughts on the subject, explaining that golf has never been about the money for him.
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“As far as I’m concerned, I don’t play golf for money. I’ve been playing golf all my life for free and the money is just a bonus. If someone wants to pay us to come out here and play golf, that’s fine, I won’t say no. I will do the best I can in my community to steward that money well.”
He also claimed that despite all the controversy and acrimony surrounding Ryder Cup player salaries, Scheffler is confident that if forced, every American player would pay for the opportunity to compete in the biennial event.
“I think any of our players would pay to play in the Ryder Cup if that’s what was required of us,” Scheffler said. “I think it’s a bit silly for a tournament that makes hundreds of millions of dollars to ask the players to pay as well, but I think we all would. I definitely would.”
Scheffler, who won seven times in the 2024 season, will not have it easy in this unofficial offseason event. He opened the tournament with a five-under 67 on Thursday to enter contention for the very real $1 million winner’s prize.
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