Scottie Scheffler is different. Full stop. Don’t overthink it. If you ask the 10,500 athletes who have qualified to play in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games which sport they are most looking forward to watching live, beyond, of course, competing in their discipline, 85 percent will tell you basketball, athletics, swimming, tennis and probably gymnastics. If you are also American, it is almost sacrilegious not to choose the NBA. Well, Scheffler is not the majority.
The world’s Number One golfer has admitted that the sport he first saw live, and was most eager to attend, is… table tennis. Just like that. The Number One is a Number One. You have to love him. The thing is, beyond Scottie being a peculiar guy, he is a lover of ping pong. “I really like it, we play it a lot on the PGA Tour and at the Ryder Cup and I was very curious to see the competition live at the Games. I have to confess to you that when I played I thought I had a certain level… Definitely, I play something else after seeing what I saw yesterday”, he explains cheerfully.
Scheffler has spent three days in Paris. He arrived on Friday, watched table tennis on Saturday, did some sightseeing in Paris on Saturday and today he was planning to go to artistic gymnastics. “I’m enjoying it. I want to soak up the Olympic experience, although I haven’t forgotten why I’m here. You have to find the balance. Until Tuesday I’m going to try to enjoy the Games, on Wednesday I’m not going to watch anything because I have to focus on the tournament that starts on Thursday”.
And Scottie does not hide his goal. Always with his feet on the ground, but equally ambitious. “I didn’t come to Paris to watch table tennis, as much as I like it. I came to win the gold medal. That’s the big goal. I also tell you that if I don’t win the gold, the world doesn’t end, but that’s the goal. It would be something very special”, he confesses.
As for the day of sightseeing in Paris, Scheffler admits he was amazed by the Louvre. “I thought there were a lot of people and it’s very big. We spent about two hours seeing things, all spectacular, and I think we had only covered about 10 percent of the museum. To see everything you have to be there for three days. I loved it. The paintings are incredible. We saw the Mona Lisa and it’s amazing. I’m very impressed by how old they are and how well they are preserved. I had a great time reading the information about the year they were painted and the materials used. Very interesting”, he points out.
Scottie, however, had no problems with the people. “Don’t think I was recognised much. Some people looked at me strangely, but it wasn’t like walking into a room full of people and taking 100 photos. It was more like a photo every ten or fifteen minutes. It was great”, he says.
As for the course, Scheffler warns that the rough is not as tough as at the Ryder and, for now, the greens are receptive. “I watched the 2018 Ryder on TV and the course is quite different. Also, Ted Scott was here and confirmed it to me. He also told me that at the Ryder it changed a lot from the practice days to the competition. We’ll see if it gets very tough for Thursday”, he explains.
Finally, Scheffler pointed out that the schedule is a challenge and he does not rule out making some changes in 2025. “It’s what we chose and there’s no complaint. We prefer to compress the competition more and have more continuous rest. However, the truth is that it’s being complicated: THE PLAYERS, the Majors, now the Games, then the Presidents… it’s a lot. It’s likely that next year I’ll make some adjustments”.
