The two consecutive victories of Scottie Scheffler in the Arnold Palmer and the THE PLAYERS, two high-flying tournaments, have raised expectations and, it seems, convinced even the most sceptical of fans or analysts: he is not only a legitimate and full-fledged Number One, but he also looks like it. Not only is he, but it is also considered whether he is definitely called to establish a hegemony. Welcome to the Scottie Scheffler Era, Golf Digest titled its final tournament chronicle yesterday.
Faced with the avalanche of data and opinions about this great champion, it may be an excellent time to travel ten years back in time in search of genuine, crystal clear references, in no way contaminated. And why exactly ten years? Very simple: almost a decade ago (on May 15, 2014) Scottie Scheffler played a PGA Tour tournament for the first time, the Byron Nelson Championship of that year, at the TPC Four Seasons Resort (Irving, Texas). He did so with an invitation and as what he was then, a beardless 17-year-old amateur who had never to date played a professional tournament, let alone the best circuit in the world.
That appointment was no joke, although it was not one of the most noted in the calendar, with two top ten in the world present (Matt Kuchar, Number 5, and Jordan Spieth, Number 8) and more than half of the top 50 worldwide on the starting grid. Scheffler teed off at hole 10 on May 15, 2014 at two in the afternoon, he was in the last match of the day, and his playing partners were Kevin Kisner and Hudson Swafford. At the same time, but on the tee of hole 1, a young man from Florida who was already making a strong impression on the other side of the pond, in Europe, but who was not yet a full-fledged member of the PGA Tour, a certain Brooks Koepka…
The start of the teenager Scottie was as expected, nothing that was going to scandalize or disappoint anyone: a score of +4 for his first ten holes and more than a few wobbles in his game, as he had only caught three greens in regulation. However, after making bogey on hole 1, the tenth of his round, something began to change, if not radically: he caught the last eight greens in regulation and signed a score of three under, enjoying himself and hitting great shots, also leaving good birdie opportunities along the way. The nonsense was over and he began to show the world who he was and what he aspired to.
His sister Callie, two years older, caddied for him, just as she had when the previous summer, in 2013, Scottie won the US Junior and then fell in the quarterfinals of the US Amateur. And it was she who at that Byron Nelson, which today takes on greater significance as the starting point of a legend, during the third round, cunningly approached her brother on hole 2, a 218-yard par 3, to whisper almost in his ear if he was sure he didn’t prefer to hit with the 5 iron… Scottie had taken the 4 iron, but he listened to her and the matter, a few seconds later, ended in a hole in one, to the astonishment of Kevin Kisner, who had been his playing partner in the first two rounds and also was in the third.
Scheffler would close the tournament in a fantastic 22nd position, a total of four under and three rounds under par (71-68-69-68), an outstanding performance for a 17-year-old amateur who had not yet set foot in university and for whom just the remote possibility of making the cut should already be a cause for celebration. On Friday, by the way, he made the cut with some margin, although it was not until hole 17 when he certified it, sinking a birdie putt from about ten meters.
On Sunday, as ESPN.com reported at the time in a brilliant article, Scottie’s tee shot on hole 72 went very close to a tree. Right there, a few meters behind, someone was watching with curiosity and wondering what the beardless boy would be able to do to avoid the low branches of the tree that closed off any possibility of making a normal shot. It was Randy Smith, his coach then, as he is today. Scottie took out the 5 iron, again the blessed 5 iron, the one from the previous day’s ace, and hit a ground-to-ground missile, skimming the grass, to take the ball to the entrance of the green and then happily complete the recovery.
Probably Randy didn’t care much what his pupil did, at that stage of the tournament. He would even have found it reasonable for Scottie to simply decide to take it out to the fairway. But once he executed that little wonder Smith smiled, pumped his fist and managed to say “what an incredible golf shot”, pleased with the fact that Scottie had shown the confidence to carry it out.
Once the tournament was over, the young player’s final summary, the last sentence, was a simple “it was fun”. Does it sound familiar? Ten years later it is still one of his favourite sentences to the media. Genuine Scheffler.
(Let’s tell everything: three weeks later Scheffler played another PGA Tour tournament, the Fedex St. Jude Classic, and this time he missed the cut. Only just. But the seed was already safely buried in fertile ground).
