Scottie Scheffler made a bit of a fool of himself at the Memorial Tournament.
After hitting a shot into the water on the 16th hole at Muirfield Village, Scheffler completely lost his head. He went on a rant for several minutes at his caddie, Ted Scott, claiming he hit the perfect shot, but got the wrong wind direction.
Scheffler has had anger issues in the past, but those seemed to be long behind him in recent years. While he was at his best, winning major championships and countless PGA Tour events, he cut a composed figure on the golf course.
That led to him making controversial comments at last year’s Open Championship that just look silly now.
Scottie Scheffler contradicts comments at The Open Championship
At last year’s Open Championship at Royal Portrush, Scheffler shocked the golfing world with his comments about golf. Scheffler questioned what the point of playing the sport was, when the enjoyment after winning a tournament was so fleeting.
“This is not a fulfilling life,” Scheffler said. “It’s fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it’s not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.”
“That’s something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. It’s like showing up at the Masters every year; it’s like why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win the Open Championship so badly? I don’t know because, if I win, it’s going to be awesome for two minutes.”
What did you make of Scottie’s behavior towards Ted Scott?
Scottie blew a fuse on day one of The Memorial…
He continued, “You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister’s there, it’s such an amazing moment. Then it’s like, OK, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on,” Scheffler said. “It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes.”
That led people to think that Scheffler had achieved golfing enlightenment, where he’d built such a healthy relationship with golf that he was able to compartmentalise. But halfway into a difficult season, and it’s clear that this is not the case.
Scheffler has won once all year, at his first event of the PGA Tour season, and since then he’s fallen just short on a number of occasions. His frustrations bubbled over at the Memorial Tournament.
It was easy for Scheffler to ask what the point of winning was when he was having so much success. But now he’s having struggles, his ability to compartmentalise has taken a hit.
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