Since 2022, Scottie Scheffler has put together the kind of lengthy stretch of excellence rarely seen in the history of pro golf. For the better part of four seasons, he’s been No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
His first PGA Tour victory came at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open, and he’s added 20 more Ws since, including four majors.
But while it may seem like Scheffler plays his best on the game’s biggest stages, he might be even more dominant when he’s at home in Dallas, Texas.
Fellow PGA Tour winners Si Woo Kim and Gary Woodland provided the latest evidence of that theory in their press conferences ahead of the 2026 Tour Championship.
Gary Woodland on Scheffler’s dominance: ‘I’ve never beat Scottie in Dallas’
A true golf and competition junkie, Scheffler regularly plays money games with fellow Dallas-area pros at Royal Oaks Country Club. Kim and Woodland, along with American Ryder Cupper Sam Burns, often serve as Scheffler’s opponents.
In fact, it’s thanks to Scheffler that Kim joined Royal Oaks in the first place.
The World No. 1 shared the tale at last week’s BMW Championship.
“[Si Woo Kim] stopped me in the locker room one day, he’s like, ‘Hey, you’re a member at Royal Oak?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah. Like what’s up?’ And he’s like, ‘Can you help me join?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, of course I can. And it’s Royal Oaks by the way.’ He called it Royal Oak,” Scheffler revealed.
The two became fast friends, regular practice buddies and frequent competitors in money matches.
“He’s always been so popular in the locker room and he’s really fun to be around. He likes playing, he likes to go out and compete,” Scheffler said last week. “It’s great to have as part of our games at home a guy that I see out here week-to-week. He’s got one son, he’s a family guy, and he’s just really easy guy to be around. He’s really popular in the locker room.”
While he admitted he does play money matches with Kim at Royal Oaks, Scheffler declined when asked to confirm that he’d never lost to Kim at home.
“I’ll let him answer,” Scheffler said.
On Tuesday at the Tour Championship, Kim didn’t quite say he’d never beaten Scheffler, but he did admit to losing lots of money, though he did so with a joke and without confirming any numbers.
“I can’t say how much I lost [to Scheffler], but I think I’m paying for his second son, all the diapers,” Kim joked at East Lake.
Fortunately, Woodland provided a lot more of the dirty details in his own press conference on Wednesday. Woodland said that he, Scheffler and Kim are “gambling every day for sure” when at home practicing at Royal Oaks.
The 2019 U.S. Open champion then added that while Kim is getting a lot of attention for always losing to Scheffler at home, he has officially never beaten Scheffler in their money matches.
“Unfortunately, Si Woo’s getting a lot of hard grief losing to Scottie. I’ve never beat Scottie in Dallas,” Woodland revealed. “He asked me if I just hand him money every time he sees me. Fortunately, that’s been the case.”
Then Woodland provided a glimpse into why Scheffler is “so hard to beat” at Royal Oaks.
“He’s hard to beat there. Right before we went to Memphis, he parred the last — I was giving him a hard time that he couldn’t handle the pressure. He parred the last three holes and shot 60 one day,” Woodland explained. “Si Woo, that didn’t work out for Si Woo and I. He’s hard to beat out here. He’s really hard to beat in Dallas.”
He continued: “We play 100 a hole, and Si Woo and I like to press sometimes, but that doesn’t work out well either. I’ve had to go to the ATM a couple times playing him in Dallas. Trust me, I’m surprised he hasn’t said it. He likes to remind me of it.”
While it may seem like Scheffler never loses on the PGA Tour, that might literally be true at Royal Oaks.
