I was crying my eyes out before the final round!
Nerveless Scheffler’s incredible confession – and the debt he owes childhood sweetheart
SCOTTIE Scheffler was not the first man leading the Masters to wake up on the morning of the final round consumed by fear and self-doubt. Jose Maria Olazabal had to run to the bathroom each time he tried to eat something before his first victory in 1994.
It’s an awful long time to wait before a 2.40pm tee-time and Scheffler was at a loss to know how to pass the hours and combat the stress. ‘I just started crying uncontrollably,’ he confessed. ‘I was sitting there with my wife Meredith telling her, I just don’t think I’m ready for this. I felt overwhelmed.’
It’s fair to say that jaws were dropping at this point all over the media interview room.
Was this the same man who had stood all of his 6ft 3in as the wall of noise greeted him following Rory McIlroy’s holed bunker shot at the 18th, impervious to its implications as he responded with two birdies in a row to seal the green jacket?
The same poker face who won the Masters the hard way, leading for every hole over a compelling weekend filled first with numbing cold and then warm sunshine?
It was Meredith, the high school sweetheart he married in 2020, who led her husband back to the path of righteousness. A woman of faith, like the man she married, she was upset by what she perceived as his self-absorption.
‘Who are you to think you know what is God’s plan?’ she told him. ‘Who are you to know what’s best for your life?’
Scottie added: ‘We talked for a long time, I was so stressed out. We talked about how the Lord was leading me, and if it was my time, it was my time. And if I went out and shot 82, then somehow I was going to use it for His glory. Gosh, it was a long morning. So long.’
There’s an inner peace about Scheffler on the golf course that lies behind his extraordinary run of form which has seen him become the first man since Arnold Palmer in 1960 to win four tournaments, including the Masters, by the Easter Rising. It was Amen Corner where he holed two vital putts for pars at the 11th and 12th, while the challenge of Cameron Smith was falling apart beside him.
Who knows what lies ahead and whether this is a moment in time or the start of a new era, but that calmness adds another formidable weapon to a 25-year-old with all the physical tools needed to be world No 1 for a sustained period.
Four victories in his last six tournaments was roughly the same percentage that Scheffler achieved playing junior golf in Texas, where he entered around 140 events and won 92 of them. ‘He wore long pants to every tournament he played in. Even if it was 110°F (43°C), he tried to be a professional even at a young age,’ said a laughing Will Zalatoris — also 25 and sixth on Sunday — who grew up in Dallas competing alongside Scheffler. ‘Golf-obsessed does not begin to describe what he was like.’ Scheffler still has the same coach he’s had since the age of seven. ‘He’s always had a tireless work ethic and God-given abilities,’ said Randy Smith, who also mentored former Open champion Justin Leonard.
For men from Texas, the Masters is always the biggest deal of all. It started with the golfers who became legends, from Ben Hogan to Jimmy Demaret, Byron Nelson and Jackie Burke. Then came Ben Crenshaw, who won the Masters on two occasions, and Jordan Spieth.
‘I always dreamed of playing in this tournament and I cried when I got my first invitation to play in the Masters four years ago,’ said Scheffler. ‘We were fortunate enough to play here in college and I loved this place from the start. I love this golf course, the questions it asks of you, the demands it makes. If you’re going to choose a tournament to win this would be the tournament I’d want to win.’
It was in Arizona on Super Bowl Sunday that Scheffler won for the first time, building on the self-belief he gained with his fine Ryder Cup debut last September.
He followed that up with a victory in Florida at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then the WGC-Match Play in his home state. From his last six tournaments, he has won about £7million.
In the gallery at Augusta, alongside Scheffler’s parents and his three sisters, were the family of his best friend at school, James Ragan, who died at 13 of a rare bone cancer. James’s sister Mecklin said: ‘James would be so proud of Scottie but he’d also be saying: “Hey man, what took you so long?”.’
In James’s name, Scheffler has raised about £2.5m for the church that both families attend.
It also helped that on Sunday he had Ted Scott as his caddie, the man who was also by Bubba Watson’s side when he won his two Masters titles.
‘He’s only been with me for nine tournaments but he knows what to say to me at the right time,’ said Scheffler. ‘I can’t speak highly enough of him both as a man and as a caddie.’
Only at the end did it all catch up with Scheffler as he lost concentration on the 18th green, with the jacket won, and he four-putted, including three stabs from no distance at all. It emphasised to the man who grew up playing with Tiger Woods golf clubs and still wears Tiger Woods shoes that there’s not a moment you can take your eye off the ball if you want to follow in his footsteps.
This remained, however, a fitting tribute on the 25th anniversary of Tiger’s 12-shot win in 1997. His three-shot margin of victory might not reflect it but Scheffler was dominant, nonetheless.
What a time this is for American golf. The nation has three players in the top six aged 25 or younger and two of them, Scheffler and Collin Morikawa, are now reigning major champions. To put that into perspective, the leading British player aged 25 or younger is Robert MacIntyre, in 73rd place in the world rankings.
They are clearly pushing one another to greater heights. Who will prove the best of all will be fascinating to discover but right now it’s the gentle Texan who kept the faith on a blessed Sunday in Augusta.