Scottie Scheffler’s ability to perform to his very best level at Bethpage Black may well determine the outcome of the Ryder Cup later this month.
Scheffler has been the dominant force on the PGA Tour over the past few years, now his country need him to step up at the Ryder Cup.
The 29-year-old’s record at the event isn’t great. He’s won two, lost two and halved three games.
Scheffler has taken on a real leadership role in the current US Ryder Cup team, and the world number one will be under real pressure to bring home some points at Bethpage Black.
It will be very interesting to see how he performs at the Procore Championship this week, and the same can be said for all of his teammates.
Scheffler has actually openly admitted that he made a big mistake in the build-up to the 2023 Ryder Cup but he has ensured that won’t be happening again.
Scottie Scheffler reveals the big mistake he made before the 2023 Ryder Cup
Scheffler will be tournament ready when he tees it up at Bethpage.
The same cannot be said for the last time he represented the USA in the Ryder Cup in Rome two years ago.
The man from Dallas, Texas, addressed the media and responded when asked about how important this week in Napa will be for him and his teammates.
He said: “I think having to come here, having the opportunity to come here and play this tournament is really important. You can practice and prepare all you want at home, but there’s something different about playing tournament golf leading up. I felt like for myself going into the last Ryder Cup, my prep work may not have been as good as it should have been. I think I could have been a little bit sharper at that tournament.
“It’s just because it’s just different playing tournament golf, it really is. That was a learning experience for me. Like I said, I learned from it and now we’ll be pretty sharp heading in.“
He was then asked is he was all-in on the idea of playing in Napa immediately when he was asked to do so.
Scheffler responded: “Yeah, we had talked about it at the beginning of the year. It was something that Xander and I had discussed because sometimes we do kind of a prep work trip, but Bethpage was a golf course that most of us knew pretty well.
“Two years ago for Rome we did that trip over there to get ready for the golf course. Basically, the conclusion that we came to was it would be nice to have some competition going into the Ryder Cup. And it would be unusual for me to have four or five weeks off before the Masters or the U.S. Open or something like that, so there’s no reason that I should be doing that going into the Ryder Cup. And like I said, I’m always focused on my preparation, that’s most important to me.
“So in order to stay sharp — you can practice and do all you can at home, but there’s something different about playing competition, getting ready for a tournament and I think this will be good prep.“
Scheffler is right here. Five weeks is a long time between playing competitively, so playing in Napa was actually a necessity rather than an option.
Scottie Scheffler has learned from 2023 Ryder Cup mistakes
Getting in tournament mode is exactly what Scheffler needs ahead of the Ryder Cup.
Then, when the Procore Championship finishes, he can fine tune his game for the next 10 days or so until the Ryder Cup starts.
The general consensus in 2023 was that US captain Zach Johnson made a lot of poor decisions.
One of them was heading over to Rome too early in an attempt to get accustomed to the golf course, rather than to get his players actually competing in at least one tournament before the showdown with the Europeans.
That has obviously all changed this year.
Scheffler has admitted to making mistakes before the last Ryder Cup in 2023 and it was very clear to see when he spoke on Wednesday that won’t be happening again.
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