Top Schef’ validates Stricker’s selection
SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — The most important tee time of Scottie Scheffler’s life was about an hour away.
While the 25-year-old rookie was about to take on world No. 1 Jon Rahm in Ryder Cup singles Sunday at Whistling Straits, his family was chilling out in the 1916 Pavilion, a plush hospitality tent for players’ families and friends that sits alongside the first fairway.
Scheffler’s dad, Scott, his mom, Diane — both New Jersey natives — along with his sisters, Molly and Sara, were sipping bottled water, buzzing in anticipation and getting ready to secure their positions around the first tee to watch Scottie.
That’s when Rahm’s parents, Edorta and Angela, stopped by the Scheffler’s table to wish their son luck.
“Mr. Rahm, it’s gonna be a good one,’’ Scott Scheffler told him. “Good luck. Play well.’’
Less than four hours later, Scottie Scheffler was shaking hands with Rahm on the 15th green, where he’d vanquished the 26-year-old Spaniard who entered the day with a 3-0-1 record this week while playing brilliant, inspired golf.
Scheffler’s win over Rahm in the third match out gave the U.S. team its first singles point of the day and it was a tone-setter for the Americans’ record-shattering 19-9 dismantling of the Europeans.
The beauty of this is that Scheffler, who’s never won PGA Tour event and had never played in a team event as a professional, was the one Steve Stricker captain’s pick that left him most open for a second-guess.
Scheffler was essentially chosen over Patrick Reed, nicknamed “Captain America’’ for his Ryder Cup prowess. Had Scheffler finished the week 0-3 and the U.S. lost the Ryder Cup, Stricker would have been skewered for selecting him over someone with experience like Reed.
Neither of those things happened. Scheffler finished the week with a 2-0-1 record and the U.S. won resoundingly.
Scheffler, too, authored one of the signature moments of this Ryder Cup on the 15th hole of his fourballs match with Bryson DeChambeau Saturday afternoon when he drained a 16-foot birdie putt to break a tie in their match against Tommy Fleetwood and Viktor Hovland.
The usually stoic Scheffler went Ian Poulter-ballistic with a fist-pumping strut and then marched over to the hulking DeChambeau and hurdled himself into a chest bump.
“My eyes teared up,’’ Diane Scheffler told The Post of the scene on 15. “The roar on 15 we knew was there, we just didn’t know when it was going to come out. He has a passion for this game and he has since he was little.’’
Molly said, “Hearing Scottie’s name being chanted, that was a surreal experience.’’
Scottie Scheffler usually plays with little outward emotion. So, when Molly said, “Sara and I got one nod and a slight smile yesterday on the back nine,’’ their father said incredulously, “You got a nod?’’
Scott Scheffler, tearing up as he spoke, said he didn’t even see his son’s chest bump until he watched the highlights on TV later, saying he kind of “blacked out.’’
“It happened at a moment when Bryson and him needed a moment,’’ Scott said. “I’ve seen it before. I’ve seen the other side of it, too, when the putts don’t go in.
The misses are as much as a part of the journey as the makes.’’
Scott Scheffler’s son hasn’t had a lot of misses this year. Five months ago, he played in his first Masters. This week he played in his first Ryder Cup and was an unquestioned success.
Asked what the stress level was as their son hovered on the bubble to be a captain’s pick, Scott said, “He’s always on the bubble,’’ and Diane referenced the Walker Cup experience.
“He was on the bubble for two Walker Cups and on the third one he finally got the nod,’’ Diane said. “He did not get in the first two. He was in the conversation. So, when people put him in the conversation this time, I was like, ‘Eh, whatever. If he didn’t get it, I felt it was OK, someday.’ ’’
“Someday’’ came last month when Scottie Scheffler got the call and he seized the opportunity.
Scottie Scheffler cried when he got the call from Stricker, but he low-keyed it when he told his family the news.
When he called his dad and told him to come to meet him, his coach Randy Smith and wife Meredith, Scott thought, “Well, this is going to be news.’’
“That’s when he told us,’’ Scott said. He said, ‘Oh, by the way dad, I got a call from the captain.’ ’’
Molly said Scottie Facetimed her and joked with her for five minutes before she finally said, “Why are you Facetiming me, as never Facetime? He said, ‘I got in the Ryder Cup,’ and he just kind of nodded and smiled. I started crying.’’
There were a lot of tears flowing on Sunday at Whistling Straits. Tears of joy.