PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – As a junior golfer, Scottie Scheffler used to wear long pants because that’s what the pros wear. Even from a young age, he seemed destined to walk inside the fairways.
“I remember when I was a kid at Royal Oaks I used to wear long pants when I would practice when I was 7 or 8 years old, and everybody used to make fun of me, but that’s what I did,” he said. “That’s what the pros did, so I wore pants.”
When Scheffler won the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday, his second Tour title in his last three starts, he improved to No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking. It marked the first time that the top 5 in the world – No. 1 Jon Rahm (27), Collin Morikawa (25), Viktor Hovland (24), Patrick Cantlay (29) and Scheffler (25) – all were under the age of 30 since the ranking debuted in 1986.
“I think it’s a reflection just on the system at work,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said. “I mean, these young players are coming from all over the world at a young age, having success on the Korn Ferry Tour and the PGA Tour at a very early age, and that depth of talent, you talk about the top 5, you extend it past the top 5 into the top 30 and the top 50, the athleticism, the youth, the preparedness, the system is working, and it’s arguably the most exciting time in the history of the PGA Tour for that reason.”
With Scottie Scheffler moving inside the top 5 in OWGR, this is the first time in OWGR history that each of the top 5 players in the world are under 30 years old.
— Phil Allen (@PhilAllenTFG) March 6, 2022
Today’s kids arrive on the PGA Tour fearless. “Generation Next” tends to be obscenely long, lack the deer-in-the-headlights look, and lack the scar tissue from being whipped by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
“I think guys are coming out more prepared,” Scheffler said.
Part of that comfort level he attributed to having played college golf against the likes of Morikawa and Hovland, and having held his own. As ESPN’s Dick Vitale would put it, this Scheffler kid, winner of the U.S. Junior Amateur before matriculating to Texas, is a diaper dandy, baby.
“College golf is I think a lot different than it used to be, especially when you kind of play at one of the bigger schools. I think the schedule that we played in college kind of really prepared us to be able to come out here and play good golf just because we’re playing similar golf courses, similar conditions,” Scheffler explained.
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All of these young stars have been competing against each other since the junior ranks and are benefiting from improved equipment, technology such as TrackMan, fitness regimens and coaching.
“We also have that belief now,” Scheffler said. “I think for me, Jordan really kind of changed a lot of that when he came out here and he won when he was 19, and it was one of those deals where I had a personal connection with him. And so he kind of gave a lot of the guys from Texas like me and Will that belief that we can come out here and play well at a young age. You don’t have to wait until you’re 25 and 30 to get some experience under your belt. You can come out here and play well.”
Morikawa echoed that sentiment.
“We just truly believed in ourselves, and that’s the number one thing is that you absolutely have to trust yourself that you can do it, not just make it to the PGA Tour, not just make it to the top 100, top 50 in the world but to be No. 1,” Morikawa said. “I think that just shows how good the young guys are coming out, how good this kinda young pile is.”
Scheffler, Morikawa, Cantlay and Hovland all have a chance to dethrone Spain’s Jon Rahm as World No. 1 this week. Scheffler, for one, had no idea. Neither did Rahm, who said he’s not going to just hand over the title.
“Even if you’re No. 1, you’ve still got to perform every week,” he said. “I’m chasing people myself, as well, so no, I don’t feel like I’m being chased.”
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