Team golf made Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns decide not to say sorry. The match-play format brings a different kind of pressure than the usual Sunday grind, and even the world’s best player admitted that competing as a pair can feel like playing for something much bigger than yourself. In that kind of environment, it is only natural to become conscious of your own effort—and worry about letting your teammate down. But Scheffler and Burns, who are close friends off the course, found a simple way to avoid those awkward “sorry” exchanges: they made a pact not to apologize to each other.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
Speaking on Barstool’s Pardon My Take with hosts Dan Katz and PFT Commentator on Barstool’s Pardon My Take, World No. 1 opened up about what pressure can look like when it doesn’t go your way. He told a very funny incident from his 2022 Presidents Cup debut that has stuck with him ever since.
“So I have one story about that. Sam Burns and I were playing. It was my first Presidents Cup. We were playing alternate shots, and we had agreed not to say sorry to each other. Yeah, that was like, We’re not going to say sorry. Like, we’re not going to do it. And we get to, I think it was like the ninth hole, and I could shank an iron shot off this par three, like, a hundred yards straight right into the woods. And, like, he’s completely screwed from there. And, like, every part of me wants to be like, “Damn, I’m so sorry.”
“But I just, like, completely shanked, like, straight, like, clearly gonna lose the hole. And we kind of just walk over, and Sam’s just, like, looking straight. He has no idea what to say. He’s probably never even seen me shank the ball before. Right. He’s just kind of looking straight, and he kind of just, like, gives me the look, and I kind of look at him, and I’m just like, “Good luck.” Scheffler said laughing.
As funny and as awkward the pact was, it kept both of them through the pressure of that day. The pact didn’t help them win, though. The two ended up losing that match too, to Si Woo Kim and Cameron Davis, the only points the international won that opening day at Quail Hollow. Four years and multiple team events later, the pact clearly hasn’t scared either of them off. Scheffler was asked to lead off with Burns again this weekend in Medinah, and this time it worked out.
Regardless of the tough time and the pressure of the match play, their friendship has never lost its sense of humor. On the same ‘Pardon My Take’ appearance, Scheffler revealed that Burns showed up to the U.S. team room this week wearing a T-shirt printed with Scheffler’s 2024 mug shot. It was a nod to his traffic arrest ahead of that year’s PGA Championship.
“Sam actually wore the T-shirt with my mugshot to our team room last night.” The joke continues to stay.
That being said, when asked more broadly about what it’s like playing team golf at the highest level, Scheffler pointed to the pressure that comes from carrying more than just his own scorecard.
“A lot of that just comes with the team environment. I grew up playing team sports, and I always felt a little bit more pressure there just because you’re playing for your teammates as well. You’re playing for something bigger than yourself.”
Kevin Kisner Has His Own Wild Presidents Cup Story
That said, Scheffler and Burns aren’t the only Presidents Cup partners with a story about navigating pressure through an unlikely rule.
Kevin Kisner, now an NBC analyst, has a story of his own from his 2017 debut at Liberty National, when he was paired with Mickelson despite asking not to be. Revisiting the incident on the Foreplay podcast, Kisner explained that the two had split roles for an alternate shot match, with Mickelson responsible for handling most approach shots and Kisner taking tee shots and putts. But six to eight holes in, Kisner hadn’t made a single putt, leaving multiple short of the hole.
Right when he thought things could get difficult, as he was conscious of performing in front of Mickelson, the golf pro pulled him aside on the green and gave him blunt advice. He told him to stop leaving putt shots and then start running them well past the cup, promising he’d clean up whatever came back.
And that advice worked. On Sunday, Mickelson surfed approach shots late, while Kisner started converting the longer putts he’d been leaving all week short, closing out a 2-and-1 win. Since then, Kisner has stuck with the lesson.
Different pairings, different generations of the Presidents Cup, but the same theme runs through both sides. Now, for this year, whether we’ll see Scheffler and Burns having a similar pact as they move to Friday remains to be seen.