It’s Scottie Scheffler, the world’s Number One, playing a Major, the PGA Championship, with a prize of about four million dollars, a flood of world ranking points, glory and prestige… Well, with all this, he will go out to play at Valhalla on Saturday with a caddie who is not the usual one. Ted Scott, his loyal squire, has taken the day off. Specifically, he asked for it in January and Scheffler granted it.
The reason is family. The graduation ceremony of Scheffler’s caddie’s eldest son is held on Saturday. There was no negotiation. “Ted and I have said from the beginning that family is the most important and priority, so there is no problem. On Saturday someone else will caddie for me and on Sunday Ted will return to the bag,” he explains. It’s extraordinary, but he lives it as something normal.
And who is Scheffler’s substitute caddie? Well, it’s Brad Payne, a theology expert who serves as chaplain of the PGA Tour. Said like this, it could be said that it’s almost a boutade from Scottie, but Payne is an old friend and, moreover, he has been a caddie in the past. Specifically, he has carried Paul Stankowski‘s bag. “There is no problem, I prefer Brad over any of my friends, I feel more comfortable when it comes to raking the bunkers,” he points out.
Speaking of children and commitments, Scheffler knows that his recent fatherhood may change some things, but not too much. Like everything in his life, he takes it as normal. “It’s about being even more efficient in training to be able to spend more time at home. It’s not a problem. I have many things at home to be able to train for competition. On one hand, I love spending a lot of time with him, it was hard for me to leave home on Monday, I even explained to him that I had to go because it’s my job, but on the other hand I’m still very competitive, it doesn’t change my nature. I don’t know if I’ll win many Majors or just two in my career, I don’t care too much. What I want is to always compete at the maximum. That’s what I’m looking for,” he says.
His first hours as a father have allowed Scheffler to have a unique intimate moment. It was last weekend. He slept his newborn in his arms, sitting in a chair with the green jacket of Augusta champion hanging right in front of him. “It’s an image that made me think. It’s crazy. I’ve married my lifelong girlfriend, from high school, I’ve just had a child and I play professional golf, my dream since I was a child,” he assures. However, don’t think he’s settling down. “I thought about it for a few minutes, but soon my competitive character returned and I remembered that I always aspire to more”. This is the fabulous duality of Scheffler. The thin line between normal and extraordinary.
By the way, Scheffler predicts that with the rains that have already fallen and those that are going to fall in the next few hours, a PGA Championship with low scores will be seen. “It’s not an easy course, but being receptive I’m sure there will be low rounds, it will be a lower final score than last year, I think”.
Finally, he made it clear that one of his big goals this year is to play and win the Paris Olympics. “I’ve always dreamed of being an Olympian. It will be a good way to argue with my friends again when they tell me that golf is not a sport… Well, it may not be, but I’m an Olympian,” he assures.
PS: If, about the caddie change on Saturday, some reader has thought that yes, that’s fine, but that he will first have to make the cut… just remember that Scheffler currently has 35 consecutive cuts made. He can fail it, of course, but it doesn’t seem like a brilliant idea to bet on it.
