Scottie Scheffler returns to Ryder Cup action this week, looking to help the United States steal the trophy back from Team Europe.
Scheffler was part of the losing American Ryder Cup team in Rome in 2023, when Luke Donald guided the hosts to a comfortable victory.
The current world number one ended his week with a 0-2-2 record, scoring just one point under captain Zach Johnson.
A particular low point for Scheffler was his Saturday foursomes tie with Brooks Koepka, when the American duo took on Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg in the second match.
It was the European pair who came out on top in stunning fashion, defeating Scheffler and Koepka 9&7 for the biggest victory in an 18-hole match in Ryder Cup history.
Scottie Scheffler says if he wants to face Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Aberg at the Ryder Cup again
Scheffler was reduced to tears after the defeat, and has now been asked in his opening Ryder Cup press conference if there is a score to be settled this time around.
After it was suggested to him that he must be “relatively satisfied” with his career since then, Scheffler said: “I think satisfied is also a very dangerous word to use when you’re talking about your career and the game of golf.
“I would say even after tournaments that I win, I think satisfaction is something that doesn’t really creep into my mind.
“I’m a perfectionist at heart, and I think that’s what’s so great about the game of golf. That’s what I love about it; there’s literally always something you can improve on, and that’s what I focus on day in day out.
“There is always little things that I’m working on, trying to improve. In terms of the match with Viktor and Ludvig, do I carry anything from it? No. I lost a point. It was a tough day.
“Came back the next day, played my best, ended up having a match with [Jon] Rahm and we ended up losing the Cup.
“There’s always things you can learn from those experiences, and I don’t use them… I think motivation is a weird word to use. I think satisfaction is definitely a dangerous word to use in terms of golf.
“My motivation has always been internal, and like I said, I love being able to practice and play, and you’re always trying to work on something in the game of golf, and it’s like a puzzle that can never be solved.
“I think that’s what excites me. I think that’s what excites me about coming into these weeks, and I’m just excited for the week to get started.”
And when asked if there’s a part of him that would like a rematch with Hovland and Aberg, Scheffler said: “I’m really excited to play whoever I’m going to be going up against. It’s going to be a fun week. We’re playing in front of a home crowd.
“There’s nothing better than this type of competition when you’re out there with your partner, you’re playing for your country, you’re playing for your team.
“These are the weeks when you look back on your career, these are the weeks that I remember the most. I have some of my best memories of my whole life playing these tournaments. Like I said, I’m just excited for Friday to get started.”
Scottie Scheffler says if he has to change his approach when representing the USA at the Ryder Cup
Scheffler refused to take the bait at Bethpage, staying focused on the task at hand even though that heavy defeat clearly hurt him badly.
But another Ryder Cup has now arrived, and there may just be fear among the European team regarding the American star given his latest season, which includes winning the PGA Championship and The Open Championship.
And his comments after clinching the latter have now reemerged ahead of the Ryder Cup, when Scheffler claimed his winning celebrations are very short-lived.
Asked if that approach changes when appearing for his country at a Ryder Cup, he said: “What I was trying to say at The Open Championship is that immediately after a tournament ends there’s this euphoric feeling of actually winning the golf tournament, but it just doesn’t really last that long.
“I have a deep sense of satisfaction and pride in what I’ve been able to accomplish in this game. This game means a lot to me.
“I never even really liked the saying, ‘it’s just a game’, because for the amount of work it takes for me to come out here and play golf, this is a lot more than just a game to me.
“This is something that’s very important to me. This is essentially my life’s work right now. This is what I spend… if I’m not with my family, I’m thinking about golf, I’m thinking about how to get better.
“I wish that I could turn my brain off to something else, and sometimes when you get home I have to find new hobbies or new things to become obsessed with because if not I’m just going to be thinking about golf literally all the time.
“So when it comes to playing for team and playing for country, I don’t really have to change much because I think my passion for the game of golf runs so deep, my passion for my country runs so deep that when it comes to these team events, it’s just another way to continue to be motivated to work hard, to want to get the most out of myself, and to be a good friend and be a good teammate to the guys on this team because the Ryder Cup, it’s a really special event and it’s something that we’re very excited for.”
Scheffler clearly cares a lot about winning, which he has remarkably done six times on the PGA Tour this season.
That certainly bodes well for Keegan Bradley and the US Ryder Cup team, although it’s fair to say that Hovland and Aberg would be more than up for the task if they were to meet Scheffler once more.
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