Scottie Scheffler surprised himself on Monday night negotiating with Bennett, his two-year-old son. They had just arrived at the house they have rented this week in Augusta after a reception from Nike. They hadn’t had dinner yet. Bennett wanted to eat a sugar cookie and Scheffler told him no, that the sausage first. Sunlit duel between father and son. This simple everyday scene, repeated in millions of homes around the world, perfectly defines the world’s Number One and his way of understanding life.
Everything about Scheffler must be a balance. Neither white nor black. As soon as the scales tip, it’s bad. He has arrived at this Masters in a phase of fighting so that the negative does not prevail. Things haven’t gone well for him in recent tournaments, but he knows that at any moment that can change and turn into three wins in a row. Sugar is fine, but so is sausage. Always balance.
Scottie left in his pre-Masters media appearance one of those phrases that define a whole philosophy of life. At least his. “If I let bad golf define me, I’d be miserable. If I let good golf define me, for example when I win a Green Jacket or the Open, I’d be arrogant. I wouldn’t be very kind if I thought I was the greatest, he explained.
Surely, that balance is what, consciously or unconsciously, Scheffler himself lost when he started the season winning. He ate the sugar cookie and it’s very possible he thought at that moment that everything from then on was going to be sweet. He forgot the sausages. He is currently engaged in that task, levelling the scales. The middle ground.
That serenity, if you like boring, is what has led Scheffler to be who he is. Not everything is black or white. He is the king of grey. “I always imagined and dreamed of winning the Masters or succeeding in the Majors, but I never felt convinced of it. I didn’t leave the Korn Ferry Tour and think, right, that’s it, now to be Number One and win Majors, not at all. I always built my career step by step. That’s how it went well for me. I started on the Korn Ferry, do well there, win, move to the PGA Tour, do well there, keep the card, win, the Majors, do well, win… Step by step”. Again, the balance.
Scottie is clear he is privileged, but he does not live or speak like it. He doesn’t abandon reality. He keeps his feet on the ground. “When I go to train I feel like I’m still going to work, like my friends. Yes, it’s clear I don’t work in an office, it’s a different job, but it’s work. I love that my friends come with me this week and accompany me along Magnolia Lane. I know it’s very special for them to see this and to see it with me, but when I’m at home I’m just one of them, the same as them, I’m not different in anything”, he emphasises.
The three weeks he has been at home have served Scheffler to reset. To rediscover that balance vital for his everyday life and vital for his golf. Of course, if there is a course that can start handing out sausages and take away all your cookies, that is Augusta. Scheffler knows it and fights against it. For now, he likes what you see this week. “The forecast looks great. It’s going to get firm and quick. I think that increases the challenge of the course. I’m keen to see how it plays this week. We might also have a bit of wind. The course is getting very good. This is the best forecast I’ve seen for this tournament in quite some time. I’m excited to start the week on these greens. The greens are quite firm”.
The best negotiations are those in which both parties feel that they have not lost and that the other has not won.
