Scottie Scheffler suggests what some people got completely wrong about his comments on winning at The Open

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Scottie Scheffler has been in truly sensational form on the PGA Tour this season.

After his victory at the BMW Championship, world number one Scheffler now has 18 PGA Tour wins to his name, including four major championships.

It’s impossible to question the 29-year-old American for the way he goes about his business, but he did receive criticism for his comments ahead of The Open Championship last month.

Scheffler said he doesn’t get any fulfilment from winning before The Open started, and many suggested that he set a poor example to youngsters dreaming of making it at the highest level.

Before the tournament started at Royal Portrush, Scheffler said: “I think it’s kind of funny, I think I said something after the Byron this year about like, it feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes,” he said. “It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling.

“To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf, to have an opportunity to win that tournament. You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister’s there, it’s such an amazing moment. Then it’s like, okay, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on.

“Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about it because I’ve literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport. To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling.

“To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I’m not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world because what’s the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It’s fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it’s not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.

“There are a lot of people who make it to what they thought was going to fulfil them in life, and you get there, you get to No. 1 in the world, and they’re like, ‘What’s the point?’ I really do believe that, because what is the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so badly?”

The bottom line is that the man from Dallas, Texas, has a record which proves he is one of the most dedicated players in the world, if not the most dedicated.

It’s worth remembering that comparisons have started between Scheffler and Tiger Woods.

Scheffler being compared to Woods wouldn’t even be a thing if he wasn’t 100% focused on his craft.

Scottie Scheffler says what people got wrong about his comments at The Open

Scheffler has won five times this year, including two major championships.

He is so dominant in the game right now that the difference in the Official World Golf Rankings between him and number two Rory McIlroy is roughly equal to the difference between the Northern Irishman and 115th ranked Taylor Moore.

It’s fair to say that no questions should be asked of Scheffler regarding his dedication to play and practice and hunger to win.

However, he obviously still felt the need to explain his comments before The Open after his win at the BMW Championship on Sunday.

He said: “The way I view it is that I get four or five hours each day to come out here and compete and play. I am going to play as hard as I can for that portion of time. When I go home I am with my family and I try to compartmentalise my life.

“When I’m at the golf course I have my time at the golf course and try to be as focused as possible.

“One of the things I felt was a bit misconstrued about my comments at The Open was that it doesn’t matter to me. The question I asked was why does it matter so much?

“That’s the thing. It means a heck of a lot to me and it’s not just a game. The game of golf is a lot to do with my life and it’s been a ton of fun. I look forward to hopefully competing for many years out here. It really is a great joy and days like today are a lot of fun.“

That makes perfect sense and personally, I don’t understand why people couldn’t see what he was saying when he first made the remarks back in July.

Padraig Harrington and Rickie Fowler had different takes on Scheffler’s comments

After Scheffler spoke out at the Open, Rickie Fowler backed up his fellow American.

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.“

However, Padraig Harrington was dismayed by the Texan’s remarks.

The Irishman said: “I’m not sure what he was trying to articulate. And I wouldn’t be putting words in his head. But I know I’m still celebrating my US Open Senior win.

“And it goes on for weeks, every time somebody says well done to me, I get a little… you know bit of acceptance and enjoyment out of it.

“I think he was trying to articulate something. I don’t want to compare myself to him, but I genuinely still have a real love for this game and enjoy every bit of it. It brings me tremendous satisfaction, and I don’t think I have to shy away from that.

“Just because I love golf doesn’t make me a bad father or a bad parent or anything. They’re separate entities.

“You can enjoy everything there is about golf and still be good elsewhere and do the right things. I just love playing golf.”

Whatever people think about Scheffler’s comments, the main point is that the world number one is free to have whatever opinion he wants on winning golf tournaments.

The fact of the matter is that he has won more than anyone else over the past three years, and that record speaks for itself concerning his desire to compete.