Last year at the Open Championship, Scottie Scheffler turned his media duties into a five‑minute existential monologue. When asked about his greatest achievement and biggest loss, he said that neither of them mattered. The four-time major winner emphasized “what’s the point” of being No. 1 or of winning a golf event. Cut to a year later, Scheffler went further when a media representative touched upon the same concept.
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“Is that going to be a quote after last year’s ‘what’s the point?’ This year ‘we’re all going to die,'” Scottie Scheffler quipped at the press conference when a journalist used the phrase ‘we’re all gonna die’ to ask him about his legacy. Then Scheffler went on to elaborate, “I think it matters more to me just in terms of the competition. There are things I would like to accomplish in the game, but at the end of the day, I have never once thought about how I’m going to be remembered. To me, it truly doesn’t matter from a sense of like accomplishment. Like when I die, ‘Hey, Scottie won four majors and 20 tournaments, and he won this much money.’ That has zero effect on me.”
Scheffler’s response echoed his thought from last year at the Open Championship. The World No. 1 then said just winning tournaments is not a fulfilling life. Rather than being remembered as a legendary golfer, he would rather be remembered as a great father. He went on to lift the Claret Jug, of course. Yet that comment was misinterpreted as Scheffler devaluing his own work and, by extension, downplaying the importance of all great achievements in the history of sports. NFL legend Tom Brady disagreed with Scheffler. Has that changed Scheffler’s view of his legacy? His next—and even deeper—comments revealed all anyone needed to know.
“History, to me—yeah, I guess maybe just isn’t that important,” Scheffler added after pondering for some time. “I’m not really sure how to elaborate on that, to be honest with you. If I could be remembered—like, I don’t necessarily want to be remembered for winning the tournaments that I won. I’d much rather be remembered for the way that I did it than the tournaments that I won. So if I’m doing things the right way, treating people the right way—like I said, a successful week for me is when I approach things the right way, when I’m committed to what I’m doing.”
Arriving at a links course and delivering perhaps the most profound press conferences seem to be becoming a routine for Scottie Scheffler. But World No. 1 isn’t the only person going philosophical after arriving at Birkdale. Perhaps it’s in the links, perhaps it’s the proximity of history. World No. 2, Rory McIlroy, had a similar take.
“No, I don’t really care. I would like to think that the people that love and care about me think a certain way of me, but yeah, I’ll be long gone. I’ll be dead. I don’t think I’ll be seeing what people say about me. I’ll be six feet under. I don’t think I’ll be a ghost. I don’t think I’ll be, you know, like—yeah, I don’t care,” McIlroy said.
McIlroy’s answer is both surprising and understandable at once, surprising given the record and the stature he has achieved in the sport and understandable because McIlroy has been open about feeling lighter since completing his career Grand Slam. In fact, he shared that he understands it as a goalpost crossed rather than the whole point.
As for Scheffler, this perspective of looking at the larger picture and prioritizing bigger things in life outside accomplishments didn’t come easily. Scheffler admitted he took himself very seriously when he was young. Sure, there were instances of Scheffler throwing a golf ball at his playing partner’s feet during a college tournament. Sure, he snaps his club occasionally even now. Or throws his ball into the water or into the jungle. But Scheffler said, with time, a growing realization has dawned on him.
Sure, there were instances of Scheffler throwing a golf ball at his playing partner’s feet during a college tournament. Sure, he snaps his club occasionally even now. Or throws his ball into the water or into the jungle. But Scheffler said, with time, a growing realization has dawned on him.
“I’ve gotten better as I’ve gotten older of letting the competition be the competition, and when you’re done, take your hat off and shake hands, and we’re on to the next week.”
His response to the chance of completing a career Grand Slam at the U.S. Open this year was similar. More importantly, after close to four years of consistently playing on the weekends, he missed the cut at the Scottish Open last week.
While this would have been a huge distraction for many, the 30-year-old took it as an opportunity to arrive a little early at Royal Birkdale. His answer when asked about being at peace heading into the Open Championship reflected his current mindset.
“I feel at peace, yeah. I think sometimes it’s not like — it’s never the best thing to miss a cut, but like I said, sometimes having a couple days off, resetting, getting some time away — throughout the year, it’s like — when you look at other sports and if you look at a football team that’s made it really far each year in the NFL, it’s really hard to continue to do that each and every year,” he added.
Instead of just looking at one missed cut, Scottie Scheffler is looking at the entire season. Despite some close finishes, he has had an exceptional season so far. Perhaps that’s the perspective that helped him remain at the World No. 1 spot for 200 weeks. When you reign at the top of the game, the expectations keep rising. Take Wyndham Clark, for example.
Clark hinted at how people start to expect golfers to win every tournament as soon as they win a few. Then, he noted that Scheffler is the only one currently able to live up to those expectations. Even Rory McIlroy noted that it’s one thing to reach the World No. 1 spot and a whole other thing to stay there.
However, Scottie Scheffler has always de-romanticized the World No. 1 tag. When he surpassed Greg Norman to have the second-longest-running World No. 1 streak, only behind Tiger Woods, he was still downplaying that achievement. He has consistently said that while it is a nice accolade, he is more focused on his craft and playing golf, and his latest comment—albeit deeply philosophical and somewhat morbid—reflects the same ethos.