Yesterday, coinciding with the final round of the US Open at Pinehurst, in the United States, Father’s Day was celebrated. The television broadcast of the tournament delighted fans in the run-up to the last matches of the afternoon, those of the favourites for victory, with family images of players like Bryson De Chambeau or Rory McIlroy with their respective parents. However, right next to the first tee, and almost coinciding with the start of the final round for the one who hours later won the title, another father was experiencing a strange Sunday for him.
We are referring, of course, to the Number One in the world ranking, Scottie Scheffler, who after a simply spectacular spring, full of victories and great moments of golf, experienced one of the worst weeks he can remember in North Carolina. At least in terms of play and results, because for him, the Sunday of the US Open at Pinehurst will always be remembered as the first time he could be congratulated as a father, following the birth a few weeks ago of his first son, Bennett, just before the PGA Championship.
His wife, Meredith, who has hardly been able to make plans with Scottie on Sunday afternoons for months, wanted to congratulate him on the day with a surprise, “She prepared a New York Bagel for breakfast,” revealed Scheffler. And his son? “The little man was screaming when I left the house, so maybe it was a good time to leave,” he said laughing after his round. A Sunday he arrived at with six strokes over par and left with eight, his worst result in a tournament (tied 45th place) since the CJ Cup in 2022 (602 days ago, almost two years).
For the Number One it will be easy to forget this week. “A tough tournament after a great tournament, so I’m not going to dwell too much on what has happened,” he acknowledged. But that doesn’t mean he’s not going to thoroughly analyse with his team the reasons that led him to never be in the fight for the US Open and to make the cut almost miraculously, thanks to a bogey by Brooks Koepka on Friday that put everyone who had five over par on their scorecard in. However, the main cause seems to be “fatigue” and not being as prepared as he would have liked for a challenge of this calibre.
“I think last week, as the course is, it probably wasn’t the best for my preparation to have another such challenging event,” said Scheffler referring to his victory at the Memorial. “I think maybe my preparation would have been a little better if I had been at home that week, but obviously I’m not going to withdraw from Jack‘s tournament,” he detailed. Scottie has played four tournaments since his victory at the Masters and two of them were between the PGA Championship and the US Open. Perhaps a too intense schedule that has taken its toll.
It’s not easy to maintain competitiveness with such intense and constant physical effort, coupled with a great mental and emotional drain. Even less so coming from playing at Muirfield, another of the most difficult courses on the circuit. So the question that everyone is asking has to do with the reasons why the calendar concentrates many ’emblematic’ events just before and after the majors. Although the answer is not simple, because the organisation of the circuit’s agenda is influenced by countless logistical, television, etc. factors.
“I would say it’s more a mental issue, but it certainly also has to do with the physical. Today I made an effort to make sure my legs worked well in the swing. Maybe it’s something to work on during the off-season. I feel like I’ve played most of my best golf at the beginning of the season. So maybe that’s something to analyse, whether I need to rest more mentally as the year progresses or if I need greater physical endurance. Right now I’m not really sure what it is,” he said, However, this time, at least, he was able to get home in time to celebrate Father’s Day… before flying back to Hatford.
