Patriotism may not be the only reason Scottie Scheffler wants to impress at the Presidents Cup this week, with the world number one also looking to prove a point after a really poor showing at Quail Hollow in 2022.
On paper, the US side should have more than enough to win the Presidents Cup for a 13th time this week. All of their six automatic qualifiers find themselves inside the top 11 in the world rankings, with Scottie Scheffler obviously the best player on the planet right now.
However, the event is not going to be played on paper. And actually, Scheffler goes into Royal Montreal looking for his first win in either the Presidents Cup or Ryder Cup since 2021. The 28-year-old lost three of his four matches in 2022.
It was jarring how much he appeared to be struggling in Rome last year, with Scheffler clearly emotional after he and Brooks Koepka had lost 9&7 against Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg on Saturday morning. So the challenge for Jim Furyk is to find a way to unlock Scheffler’s quality in Canada this week.
Why Scottie Scheffler has struggled in the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup
Speaking on the Golf Channel about Scheffler’s struggles in these kind of events, Paul McGinley explained why he believes the two-time Masters champion may be having difficulties.
“You have to get a performance out of him for a start. For the quality of player that he is, his record is terrible in these team events so something is going on. I don’t know if it’s partnerships – I doubt it’s partnerships. Psychologically there is something going on,” he said.
“We talk there about there being some games where you’re going to play great golf and get beaten because your opponent plays so well, but Scottie Scheffler does not go out and have a winning ratio of less than 30 percent, which is what he has in the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup combined. For a player of that quality, something has got to change in his mindset. The best players in the world generally have peculiar mindsets. That’s what makes them so brilliant, they are lone wolfs to a large extent. They have personality traits that drive them to the top of the game.
“One of them is an OCD, if you want to call it that, and also a control freak. Interestingly looking and observing Scottie, who is so much in control when he is playing, the one tournament where he looked really out of control this year was when he played at altitude in Colorado, because he was not in control and the ball was going peculiar distances. So when you take him out of his comfort zone, when he is really in control, that’s when he seems to be at his most vulnerable and team events take you out of your comfort zone.”
Further similarities with Tiger Woods
Scheffler is not alone in having those issues. While Tiger Woods had an outstanding record in the Presidents Cup, it is well known that the 15-time major champion had a poor career in the Ryder Cup.
Woods only ever showed glimpses of his unbelievable quality in the Ryder Cup. And no match shows that ability does not guarantee success better than when Woods and Phil Mickelson were beaten when paired together in 2004. Needless to say, Hal Sutton only made that mistake on one occasion.
It is too soon to say that Scheffler cannot completely turn his record around. He was superb in the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits. But clearly, getting the best out of the FedEx Cup champion is not quite as easy as some would suspect it should be.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
