Scottie Scheffler ended up winning his singles match in the Presidents Cup against Nico Echavarría, but earlier produced a gesture that will be talked about far more than the result. The World No. 1 defended his opponent against improper behaviour from a spectator and refused to profit from the consequences the shout had caused.
It happened at the 14th at Medinah. Echavarría was three down and was about to hit his tee shot when a fan shouted “Go Scottie!” just as the Colombian was starting his backswing. The distraction was obvious. Echavarría bladed the club out of pure frustration and opened the shot badly to the right.
The Colombian looked towards where the shout had come from. Scheffler did not let it pass either. He turned to the crowd and reproached the spectator: “There is no place for that here,” he said.
A concession from almost ten metres
Scheffler did not just rebuke the fan’s behaviour. Echavarría was able to recover the ball and ended up with a putt of about 32 feet — almost ten metres — to save par. The American chose to concede it.
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It was not a simple concession. Normally you do not make that putt and Scheffler, who had earlier putted for birdie to win the hole, conceded it to halve the hole. The World No. 1 felt he should not benefit from an external action that had clearly disadvantaged his opponent and gave the par.
The American thus kept his three-hole lead, but allowed Echavarría to continue in the match without being punished sporting-wise for a fan’s shout. Some will harbour reasonable doubt about whether Scheffler would have done the same if the match had been closer, but we will never know. What we do know is what he did.
It was an immediate, natural reaction and especially significant given the context. Scheffler was defending the United States’ colours, in front of his crowd. None of that stopped him siding with his opponent when he understood a line had been crossed.
Echavarría answered with a big shot and silenced the crowd
The match continued tied on the 15th and still held another tense episode. Echavarría holed out from off the green on the par-3 16th from the rough from about 64 feet, around 19.5 metres, to register an extraordinary birdie.
The Colombian responded to the crowd by putting a finger to his lips. Scheffler then had a putt of about four metres to halve the hole, but it did not drop. The American’s lead was cut to two with two to play.
Echavarría’s comeback ended on the 17th. Scheffler two-putted for par and closed out the match by 2&1. The World No. 1 secured the point, although the most remembered image from his match will probably not be any of his shots
“There is no place for that in our sport”
Scheffler was asked after the match about what happened on the 14th and about his decision to concede the putt. The American did not want to turn the gesture into an exercise in self-promotion or dwell on what he had done. He preferred to close the matter with another brief line: “There is no place for that in our sport”.
Scheffler said he did not want to speak much more about the incident and left it at that.
He did not need to add much. First he defended his opponent. Then he rebuked his own crowd. Finally, he conceded Echavarría a putt of almost ten metres that could have changed the course of the match. He then won the match. But before that he had produced one of the most sporting gestures of the Presidents Cup.
