Scottie Scheffler admitted yesterday after the first round of the FedEx St Jude Championship, the first playoff of the FedEx Cup, where he is defending his title, that he is a bit superstitious. “I use the same pitch mark repair tool and the same ball marker almost every day, so I’m a little superstitious,” he stated. The story of the pitch mark repair tool is quite something and shows that other side of the World Number One that brings him closer to the fans much more than others. He may be the player who interacts the most and best with the public during tournaments, but when he leaves the golf course, he is much more like any of us than other great champions.
That pitch mark repair tool he always uses was bought a couple of years ago at the clubhouse shop at Cypress Point. The reason? “I don’t use it because it’s from there, but because it’s metal and the ideal size; they hardly make them like that anymore. I bought it and I’ve stuck with it,” he pointed out. However, even for Scottie, no matter how much of a World Number One he is, things still get lost in the golf bag, that kind of unfathomable abyss where everything can be misplaced and, at the same time, everything can be recovered five years later.
Well, Scheffler lost his pitch mark repair tool and instead of buying just any other, he decided he wanted the same one, the one from Cypress. Since he had no planned trip to California, he started searching on eBay. He ended up finding a private seller who was asking for 50 dollars for one exactly like his. Scheffler paid for it and had it sent to his home. During the transaction, he did not hide who he was and provided his personal residence details. More than one person might have been shocked. It’s the normality of Scheffler. He was asked if it wouldn’t have been better to do it through his agent, for example. “I don’t think so, he sent it to me and even wrote me a note. A good guy,” he said.
Shortly after, when he travelled to Pebble Beach to play the designated event, knowing that the contents of a golf bag are the most similar to the River Guadiana, he went back to Cypress Point and bought two more as spares. “I took advantage of the fact they were cheaper,” he said, half-jokingly. That’s Scheffler.
Regarding his start in Memphis, a round of 69 strokes, 12th place, Scheffler was quite satisfied. “I suppose it’s easy for you to see it (he told the journalists when they mentioned it was another solid round, as usual for him); you don’t have to hit the shot. It’s one thing to tell me where to aim and another to do it. Today was a good day. I did solid things. I felt I was close to signing a great round, but it ended up being a solid round. Overall, a good start.”
For the World Number One, the shot of the day came at the 14th, a par 3 of almost 200 metres. “I hit a good shot, left it close, about two metres away, and we holed the putt,” he explained. Scheffler will start today five strokes behind Akshay Bhatia, a considerable difference, although by no means definitive. However, it is worth remembering that this is the third time Bhatia has started a tournament as the leader. On the other two occasions, he finished the week first (Valero Texas) and second (Rocket Classic). A demonstration that so far, when the left-hander starts well, he manages to stay at the top.
