The beauty of being able to play well around Augusta National is that you are likely to be able to contend in at least one major every single year, with The Masters being the one event which does not move around.
Scottie Scheffler has become the latest player to seemingly work out how to thrive around Augusta National. He has followed the likes of Bubba Watson and Jose Maria Olazabal, with each player’s two major wins coming amidst the Georgia pines. Meanwhile, The Masters accounted for half of both Phil Mickelson and Sir Nick Faldo’s major tallies.
Scheffler is yet to finish outside the top 20 in The Masters, while he has now won in two of the last three years. Of course, winning a major represents the greatest achievement in the career of most players. And yet, it was another accolade which appeared to mean the most to Scheffler in 2024.
Few will forget the 28-year-old’s performance on the back nine on Sunday at the Olympic Games. Scheffler shot 29 after the turn at Le Golf National to clinch the gold medal. And it was striking to see how emotional the world number one got on the podium.
Scottie Scheffler reveals what he did when he won The Masters this year
But, as it turns out, that was not a one-off for Scheffler by any means. Speaking on Subpar, he revealed that he had a similar reaction at Augusta earlier in the year, but managed to make sure it went unnoticed.
“I felt like I got so emotional on Sunday because the national anthem is playing and it was one of those weird days where at one point it was almost like I wasn’t even going to come close to winning a medal. And then all of a sudden I got really hot and ended up winning the medal and you’re just kind of sitting on the podium like, this is amazing, how cool is this? And I typically get emotional after my wins,” he said.
“It just happens that you don’t see it ever because you kind of get time to myself. But that time it was really, went straight to the playoff and then you went, or straight to get ready for the playoff and then you win. And then all of a sudden you’re going straight to this award ceremony.
“And I remember, I cried after the Masters this year, but I did it on my way to walk back to the Champions locker room and there’s nobody that could see it. I told him I need to go to the bathroom. I didn’t need to go to the bathroom.
“I just needed two minutes to collect my thoughts. And I went up there and I just cried a little bit. That’s how I am. And it just so happened that at the Olympics I did it. Everybody was watching.”
Golf fans will appreciate seeing how much wins mean to the world number one
It will please golf fans to hear just how these wins mean to Scheffler. He clearly benefits from how calm he remains on the course – Collin Morikawa suggested that he is amazed by Scheffler’s mental game. But with that, you would be forgiven for thinking that he does not quite get the same joy from some of his wins.
However, it must be such a relief for someone like Scheffler who now deals with so much expectation. He secured a relatively comfortable victory at Augusta in April, and he would have known that it would have almost given him extra credit in the bank for the rest of 2024.
And given his career record at The Masters, it would be no surprise if he had reason to be emotional once again as he walks off 18 on Sunday in 2025.
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