Last year, Rory McIlroy arrived at idyllic Pebble Beach and announced he wanted to play more like Scottie Scheffler. The plan was to fight his own aggressive urges, take the smart route and never shoot himself out of a tournament. If you give yourself more chances to win, as Scheffler does, eventually the cards will fall in your favor more and more.
A year later, McIlroy returned to one of golf’s great cathedrals as the defending champion and was asked to sum up Scheffler’s run atop the golf world, which included a string of 17 consecutive top 10s (18 if you include the Hero World Challenge) entering the week. Scheffler’s latest top 10 was a T3 at the WM Phoenix Open where opened with a 2-over 73 before going 65-67-64 over the final three rounds to miss out on the playoff by a shot.
McIlroy critiqued his own inconsistency last year post-Masters while lauding Scheffler’s ability to piece things together and rise up the leaderboard whether he has his A-game or not. To McIlroy, one word and one golf icon came to mind.
“He’s relentless,” McIlroy said.
“I’ll never stop singing Scottie’s praises because he’s incredible at what he’s doing and the way he does it, and that’s never — I’ve had nice runs like that, but I’ve always been a little more up and down,” McIlroy said. “I think anyone that wants to catch Scottie or get anywhere close is going to have to consistently bring that sort of game week in and week out like he does. He’s really the first one since Tiger that’s doing this.”
Last week in Phoenix, Scheffler revealed a layer of his greatness when he talked about how he was so discouraged after his first round that he didn’t even want to try and dig it out of the dirt. But his competitive desire to not only make the cut, but to continue to be a constant presence atop the leaderboard won out. Where some players have down weeks or let the rope slip when they face an early leaderboard climb, part of Scheffler’s greatness lies in his unwillingness to give in.
With McIlroy’s praise still hanging in the air above Stillwater Cove, Scheffler went to work making them ring true.
The World No. 1 opened with an even-par 72, starting 10 shots back of 18-hole leader Ryo Hisatsune. Scheffler admitted after his first round it would be difficult to make up ground but he’d do his best. A second-round 66 followed. Then, a 67. Still, Scheffler remained eight shots behind 54-hole leader Akshay Bhatia. The hill was steep. But Scheffler’s greatness is built in his preparation and his process. He looms over golf because he focuses on the micro — the next step — and not the macro.
“I didn’t have really any crazy expectations or anything on the day, I just wanted to show up and have a good attitude and play some good golf,” Scheffler said on Sunday along the coast of the Pacific Ocean.
He opened with a birdie at the first and an eagle at No. 2. He birdied three, made an eagle at six and followed that with another birdie.
Relentless.
He made the turn six-under 30 and was suddenly two off the lead. Scheffler birdied 10 and 11 and was suddenly tied for the lead. He slid back with bogeys at 12 and 15 sandwiching a birdie at 14. Scheffler arrived at the final hole likely needing an eagle to have a chance at a playoff. With the wind howling off the Pacific Ocean, Scheffler split the fairway on the par-5 and then stuffed his approach from 186 yards to under three feet. He rolled in the putt to tie the lead and post 20 under.
Relentless.
The gravitational force of unrelenting greatness is hard to escape. On Sunday, Collin Morikawa barely managed to wriggle out of Scheffler’s grasp, playing the final four holes in two under to capture his first win in over 800 days.
For Scheffler, it was a T4 finish after another opening round where he was stuck in neutral. But it was also another example of what McIlroy and others know and feel at every stop in which they tee it up alongside Scottie Scheffler. His name is a fixture on the leaderboard because he wills it to be.
“I’m very proud of sticking with it, not giving up even when I felt like things were going against me this week. Just kept fighting, kept trying to hit shots, kept trying to execute,” Scheffler said.
Expect the same story next week at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera. At this point, there’s no reason to expect anything different.
