From the outside, it would appear that Ted Scott probably has one of the easiest jobs in golf carrying the bag for world number one Scottie Scheffler at a time when he appears incapable of going more than three tournaments without winning.
Scottie Scheffler was the rightful winner of The Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup on Sunday, with the 28-year-old finishing four shots clear of Collin Morikawa at East Lake.
It is hard to have too much of a criticism of Scheffler’s season, but perhaps one frustration for The Masters champion was that he did not win The Tour Championship by more, having led by seven after two holes on Sunday. But there was a brief moment where it appeared that Scheffler may not end up winning at all.
Scheffler hit a shank on the eighth hole having already made a bogey on the seventh. He would fail to get up and down for par, allowing Morikawa to close the gap to just two. And with Morikawa set to have the honour on the ninth tee, there appeared to be a real window for the world number four to pile the pressure on.
Scottie Scheffler shares what Ted Scott told him after shank at The Tour Championship
However, the door was shut just as quickly as it was opened, with Scheffler making three birdies on the bounce. Justin Rose lauded Ted Scott for whatever he said to Scheffler on the way to the ninth tee as he closed in on victory.
And after the round, Scheffler provided an insight into what Scott had been saying at that crucial moment.
“Well, most of the week I was playing really well. I felt like I was doing a lot of stuff well and I wasn’t getting a ton out of it. I had started with a lead and that’s why I was still in the lead, only because I started with it,” he said.
“If it was a regular tournament I think I would have been a couple strokes behind but would have been right in the tournament.
“So Teddy did a good job of just reminding me that I was playing well and to continue to do what I was doing. We were still in control of the tournament. I still had a two-shot lead, still in total control, and if I played my best golf on that back nine, then I was going to be most likely holding the trophy. If I went out with a two-stroke lead and played my best, I felt like I was going to win the tournament.
“I changed my focus and was able to hit a really nice shot in there into 9 and really changed the momentum of the round.”
Why Scott’s job is so much more harder than people probably initially think
Of course, it is flippant to say that Scott has the easiest job in golf. Ultimately, the pressure is probably like nothing else as Scheffler’s demands are going to be so high – as the world saw when Scheffler lost his cool at the BMW Championship.
But he probably really comes into his own in the rare moments when Scheffler is not hitting perfect iron and wedge shots. For some, it is probably no coincidence that Scheffler’s worst round at the PGA Championship came, not on the day he had been arrested outside Valhalla, but rather on the day Scott was not on his bag.
Scheffler would go on to note that so much of his success can be put down to Scott, and he certainly played his part in ensuring that he got himself across the line in the FedEx Cup finale.
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