Rickie Fowler has offered his take on what Scottie Scheffler and Padraig Harrington have both said about the fulfilment they get from winning golf tournaments.
Scheffler is the best golfer in the world right now, and he has been for quite some time in all fairness.
Meanwhile, Harrington is the dominant force on the PGA Tour Champions at the moment.
Before The Open Championship in July, Scheffler said that he doesn’t get any fulfilment from winning.
The 29-year-old suggested that the feeling of joy he gets from winning is incredibly fleeting.
And the following day, Harrington said he wasn’t sure what Scheffler was trying to articulate, whilst completely disagreeing with the world number one.
The Irishman suggested that he was still celebrating his US Senior Open triumph weeks after winning at The Broadmoor Golf Club.
The comments from Scheffler divided golf fans, his fellow PGA Tour players and journalists alike.
But how does Fowler feel about what his fellow American said?
Rickie Fowler says if he agrees with Scottie Scheffler or Padraig Harrington on winning
The 36-year-old has won six times on the PGA Tour, so he’s well placed to give his opinion on what both players said.
Fowler was asked whether he agrees with what Scheffler said about winning, or whether he is more on board with Harrington’s point of view.
He said: “Yeah, you can ride the wave a bit whether it’s a win or a good finish. I feel like there’s — if you’re just taking or measuring success off winning, other than where Scottie’s been the last few years, you’re going to be disappointed quite often. Yeah, there’s a lot of times where you’re having to look at the glass half full out here, especially in times where you’re maybe struggling and might just be a solid weekend or top-20, top-10. So yeah, the wins, a lot of times you don’t really get either much time or time to necessarily celebrate, you might be playing the following week, but there are times to look back and reflect.
“It’s the good memories. But as far as the actual moment, yeah, like Scottie said, it’s pretty brief and quick. It’s like life doesn’t stop, it keeps going. But there is something to like what some of the other guys have said is you can kind of build off that or ride the wave of just quality golf in general. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a win.“
The thing that everyone seems to be missing here is that Scheffler’s point was that he doesn’t define himself by his success on the golf course, but rather by being the best father, husband, son, brother and friend he can be
And seriously, what is wrong with that?
Annika Sorenstam made the best point about Scottie Scheffler’s comments
Sorenstam was a dominant force on the LPGA Tour from the mid-90s through until the mid-2000s.
She also places a lot of importance on family.
The Swede was asked what she thought of Scheffler’s comments just before the Open.
Sorenstam said: “I appreciate his comments. He said the word ‘grateful’ many times, and he appreciates his success, it’s cool to win but it doesn’t really fulfil the deepest desire in his heart, which I know is his family. I think that was a good thing to share.
“Maybe people need to start realising that we’re human beings who play golf, we’re not golfers trying to be human beings. At the end of the day that’s really what’s so important. You shouldn’t be judged on your score and what you do, life is about so much more than that.“
That is absolutely spot on from Sorenstam.
I feel like a lot of people took Scheffler’s comments the wrong way, and the bottom line is that whatever he is doing is working well for him.
That really is all that matters.
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