There is going to be so much intrigue surrounding Scottie Scheffler at The Masters, with the world number one surprisingly looking for his first win of the year at Augusta National.
Scottie Scheffler will be the overwhelming favourite in the eyes of many this week. Scheffler has won The Masters in two of the last three years, and he is looking to join Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Sir Nick Faldo as the only players to win in successive years.
The 28-year-old has never finished outside of the top 20 at Augusta National. And it was remarkable just how easy he made winning in 2024 seem, with Scheffler remaining calm as all of his challengers fell away around the turn.
But Scheffler went into last year’s event off the back of victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship. He could hardly have had more momentum leading into the first major of the year.
The comment Scottie Scheffler made which may be ominous for his rivals at The Masters
This time however, Scheffler has not tasted victory in the first three months of the season. He has not finished outside the top 25 on the PGA Tour, but he has also not been able to reach that next gear.
Nevertheless, many will be expecting that to change in the coming days. And speaking on The Smylie Show, Smylie Kaufman insisted that he took a lot of confidence from what he heard Scheffler saying in his press conference earlier this week.
“I thought the most important thing he said today, and if you’re trying to make an assumption of can Scottie win this golf tournament, I thought the most important thing he said in his interview was ‘this is the most prepared I’ve been for an event this entire year’. So when you hear that, you think to yourself, okay, Scottie Scheffler’s going to be near the top of the leaderboard, not worried about him playing poorly,” he said.
“I think he’s been gradually improving throughout the year. The ball-striking’s been better, the putter was good at the beginning of the year, so you just think to yourself he’s obviously got success at this place. I’d be shocked if he didn’t play really well and have a chance to win.”
What Scheffler found most challenging about his 2024 Masters win
Scheffler would become only the second person after Nicklaus to win three Masters titles in four years should he get across the line this week.
And while he has not won this year, he has proven on several occasions that returning to somewhere which holds happy memories does help bring the best out of him. Scheffler has won four events – including The Masters – on more than one occasion.
But he also knows the challenges he will face. And speaking after his win in 2024, he explained what he found so tricky on Sunday.
“I think it’s a difficult golf course to close out a win on. Like I said, you can’t play overly defensive. Like 12 is a good example of a hole where if you play overly defensive, like where the pin is today, you’re trying to hit right over that bunker, right in the middle of the green. And if you pull it, for a righty, it goes further,” he said.
“You could see Max Homa in the group in front of us maybe pulled his a touch, and it flies into the bushes long. I’ve hit it in the bushes long there multiple times. You can’t just sit up there and play overly defensive. You have to play to the correct spot and hit really good golf shots.
“I did that to the best of my abilities today and was fortunately able to hit some really key shots and make some nice birdies there on the back nine. Really, from hole 8 on, I played really, really nice golf.”
It may be a difficult task but you would imagine that Scheffler would jump at the chance to lead going into Sunday once again this week.
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