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. In a five-minute monologue, the American pro emphasized “what’s the point” of being No. 1 or of winning a golf event. Reflecting on the same, a media representative touched upon the same concept and asked if Scheffler wants to share something similar this year.

But this time, he wanted to keep the philosophy to himself.

“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 said in the presser when the journalist used the same phrase to ask him about his legacy. “I think it matters more to me just in terms of the competition. There’s 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.

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“History to me — yeah, I guess maybe just isn’t that important. 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.”

Scottie Scheffler has not just reached the World No. 1 spot; he has been there for several months now. There are many fans and even professionals who call him the absolute best in the current times. When Wyndham Clark won the 2023 US Open title, he admitted the pressure was intense.

“For me, it has been frustrating,” he said.

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.

This same thing was reflected in his comments last week, too. After close to four years of consistently playing on the weekends, he missed the cut at the Scottish Open. The last time he had missed the cut was at the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. While this would have been a huge distraction for many, the 30-year-old said that “I didn’t really feel like I played that bad.”

Instead of letting that fact affect him, he focused on playing in the Open. He thought of it as an opportunity to arrive a little early at Royal Birkdale for practice. His response to the chance of completing a career Grand Slam at the US Open this year was also the same.

This was reflected in his answer when he was asked about being at peace heading into the Open Championship.

“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.