Scottie Scheffler is preparing to compete this week in the Texas Children’s Houston Open, his last tournament before returning to Augusta National to defend his title at the Masters. He is convinced that, despite not having won at the start of the season, his game is exactly where it needs to be to face the major events on the upcoming calendar, and he is ready to use these four days of competition to make his final adjustments and, in the process, play on the ‘rye grass’ fairways of the Memorial Park Course, similar to what he will encounter in two weeks at the first major of 2025.
“Yes, I think now that there’s rye grass on the fairways, the preparation for the Masters definitely improves, it’s similar grass to what we see at Augusta,” commented the Number One in the world rankings. “It’s also a big golf course, you have to hit the ball far, so, indeed, there are some similarities and it’s good preparation for the Masters. I also like having the week off between my last tournament and Augusta,” explained Scottie.
Regarding his game, he insisted on the same message, without wanting to give specific details about the aspects he is working on these days: “I feel pretty good. I’m excited about the things we’re working on right now and I feel the game is in a good place. I’m just fine-tuning things, still working on the numbers, things like that… Fine-tuning things would be a pretty good definition, I feel like I’m improving little by little.”
Scheffler was also asked about McIlroy’s words in which he set his goal to catch him in the rankings: “Well, I think when you’re a competitive guy like Rory, you’re always looking for some source of motivation. He has many more tournament wins than I do, he has more major wins, I guess until last week I technically had more PLAYERS wins. I think when you’re a great player like him, you’re always looking for ways to motivate yourself, especially as the years go by. He’s been here a long time and I think sometimes it can get a bit repetitive playing the same events over and over again and any source of motivation that I think you can have when you’re a great player I think is a good thing. Is it strange for me? No, I really don’t think about it.”
And on how to motivate himself, Scottie made it clear how he does it: “Mine is mostly internal. I try not to pay attention to what others are doing. What has always worked best for me is staying in the present, working hard preparing for each event as an individual tournament and just showing up ready to play. When I step on the first tee, I want to feel like I’ve met all the requirements to have a good event. And there I am competing, I love the competition, and week after week I’m still very excited to play in an event, whatever it is.”
This week, Scheffler has already become the second player to lead the world rankings for the most consecutive weeks. An achievement he also spoke about in Texas: “Is it a good achievement? Yes. I think it’s something fantastic to see, considering the good starts I’ve had in recent years. I’ve worked hard to achieve that kind of accomplishment. Tiger still holds the record for about eight years or something like that. No, I don’t think too much about it, and in each tournament, you start from scratch. Showing up here as the Number One in the world doesn’t do me any good, it just doesn’t. At the end of the day, I’m focused on the tournament and the task at hand. Rankings are rankings, they really don’t matter to me.”
Finally, he talked about how this week, inevitably, everyone will be partly thinking about Augusta: “It’s funny, I try to concentrate as much as I can, as I said, on the tournament in question. I think at the back of your mind, at all times, the majors are always there. The most important tournaments for us are the majors and THE PLAYERS. I guess when you’re training and playing at home, those are always the courses that come to mind. So when you’re here, just two weeks away from the Masters, I think it’s very easy for us to look ahead to the Masters, but I’m trying to focus on this week. Playing on a similar type of grass on the fairways and making similar shots on this big golf course is good preparation for the tournament.”
