It is the monotonous brutality of it all.
Scottie Scheffler is the Floyd Mayweather of golf. He kills you with a hundred jabs, shots no one saw coming, and sidesteps trouble that he has seen seconds, if not minutes, before.
His par putts on holes 6 and 7 during the final round of the 153rd Open at Portrush were as important as his birdies on several other holes. Even the crowd entirely in favour of Rory McIlroy began coming around to his brilliance.
He doesn’t hit it in the gorse, and he doesn’t shout and scream after his ball. The little white sphere is on a rope under his psychotic control. Once each putt has disappeared into the cup, he trudges to the next tee box and does it all over again.
He is that guy who doesn’t miss a fairway in the monthly medal, and makes par on every hole they receive a shot in the club matchplay. Frustratingly good to watch, without any variance.
Whatever ambivalence or opposition fans show towards Scheffler is in the backdrop of admiration. Make no mistake. We golf fans know that we are witnessing greatness. The Texan is a simply remarkable player.
But golf fans aren’t endeared to him.
ALSO: Can we now compare Scottie Scheffler with Tiger Woods?
Scottie Scheffler: Open Championship victory was sublime, but was it what we wanted?
They aren’t endeared to him in the way they are to McIlroy, at an Open in Northern Ireland or at a US Open in New York. He is arguably not even as endearing as the likes of Tommy Fleetwood, and certainly not as popular as Bryson DeChambeau. Then you have the fiery Jon Rahm, or someone like a self-deprecating Bob MacIntyre.
“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport,” Scheffler said in an extraordinary monologue in tournament week.
Advertisement
“To have that sense of accomplishment is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. 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.”
Although this is one of the most interesting things a golfer has said in the last year, it is also baffling, and speaks to why golf fans like Scottie Scheffler, but do not passionately root for him.
You are telling us it isn’t fulfilling to win the Masters twice? To don the Green Jacket on the 18th green, twice? To hoist the Claret Jug at one of the great championship venues on planet earth? What an intriguing character, yet a character without intrigue.
When he finished with his 68th shot of the final round on the Dunluce Links, he hugged his own caddie Ted Scott, he hugged Haotong Li, and he hugged his caddie Jady De Beer. It wasn’t until he saw his wife and child that the emotion burst and his cap flew in the air.
| Scottie Scheffler: Open win by statistics |
| Took Tiger Woods 1,197 days to win his fourth major after his first – Scheffler has done exactly the same |
| 9th player to win the Masters, the PGA Championship, and The Open |
| 31st player to win four or more majors |
| 12th consecutive first-time winner of The Open |
ALSO: Scottie Scheffler WITB 2025: Champion Golfer of the year!
“Give us something,” I heard a few media colleagues mutter in our viewing platform at the back of the 18th green. We aren’t asking for hysterics, nor a Stuart Pearce impression, but just something.
In his media sessions, he is honest and he speaks from the heart. But when press conference schedules pop up in our email inboxes, he isn’t the name we look for, and he isn’t someone to rely upon for a headline.
We aren’t out to be rude or to diminish Scheffler’s character, or to criticise. The recognition of quality is there, and it will be forever. But it is the way things are, and with every major championship he wins and with every hour more he spends on mainstream television, his success doesn’t build the foundations of household status.
Moments from the final round on Sunday in Antrim reminded me of the hostility shown towards Brian Harman at Royal Liverpool in 2023. Personally, I wouldn’t attribute his love of hunting animals in that case (as some very much would), but his pure domination of the tournament itself.
It is unwanted domination. You cannot tell me golf fans would want a closer run thing or some gross mistakes thrown in to make things interesting if McIlroy had a five-shot lead.
Social media had a collective heart attack when Fleetwood choked away the Travellers Championship, and even LIV got some traction when Phil Mickelson rolled back the years a few weeks ago in Virginia. There is another player who had thounsads of with their hearts halfway up their throats. Then there has been Jordan Spith – goodness me, what a showman.
Scheffler has the Claret Jug and almost the grand slam.
But he doesn’t have our hearts, and he might never.
Final Open Leaderboard 2025
-17 S Scheffler
-13 H English
-12 C Gotterup
-11 W Clark, M Fitzpatrick, H Li
-10 R MacIntyre, X Schauffele, R McIlroy
NOW READ: TaylorMade Spider X Proto Small Slant Putter Review: The Putter designed for Scottie Scheffler
Advertisement
NOW READ: What Makes It Work? Scottie Scheffler Swing Analysis
NOW READ: Meet the Scheffler family: Who is wife Meredith and how old is son Bennett?
Are there the amount of Scottie Scheffler fans you’d think given his level of success? Do you know Scottie Scheffler fans that root for him more than anyone else? Tell us on X
Advertisement
