Scottie Scheffler reflects on Tiger Woods' influence
'I've only played one round of tournament golf with Tiger Woods, and it completely changed the way I look at how I play tournaments,' Scheffler told reporters at Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club, where he will attempt to defend his Tour Championship this week against 29 of the PGA Tour's top talents.
Scheffler was paired with Woods during the final round of the 2020 Masters, which had been moved from April to November and was played without spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Scheffler remembered how Woods responded after carding a 10 at the par-13 12th hole at Augusta on that Sunday. Woods birdied five of the last six holes, displaying a level of focus and competitiveness that has stuck with Scheffler throughout his own reign as the world's No. 1 golfer.
'(I) was like, what's this guy still playing for? He's won the Masters four or five times. Best finish he's going to have is like 20th place at this point,' Scheffler said.
'I just admired the intensity that he brought to each round, and that's something that I try to emulate. If I'm going to take time to come out here each week -- like it's not an easy thing to play a golf tournament. If I'm going to take a week off, I might as well just stay home. I'm not going to come out here to take a week off. If I'm playing in a tournament, I'm going to give it my all. That's really all it boils down to.'
Scheffler, 29, continued his remarkable season with a victory last week at the BMW Championship. Including his wins at the PGA Championship and The Open Championship, he became the first PGA Tour golfer since Woods in 2006-07 with five or more titles in back-to-back seasons.
Scheffler has 18 career wins on the PGA Tour. He was the Rookie of the Year in 2020 but didn't win his first tourney until 2022.
'The reason I felt like I hadn't won yet is I hadn't put myself in position enough times. I'd only played in a couple final groups. I always found myself just a little bit on the outside looking in, and that's one of the things I learned from playing with Tiger,' Scheffler said.
'It was like, we're in 20th place or whatever going into Sunday at the Masters, Tiger has won five Masters, he's got no chance of winning the tournament. Then we showed up on the first hole and I was watching him read his putt, and I was like, 'Oh, my gosh, this guy is in it right now.'
'That was something that I just thought about for a long time. I felt like a change I needed to make was bringing that same intensity to each round and each shot. And I feel like the reason I've had success in these tournaments is -- I don't hit the ball the furthest. The things that I do on the golf course, other people can do. I think it's just the amount of consistency and the intensity that I bring to each round of golf is not taking shots off, not taking rounds off, not taking tournaments off.'
The lessons learned in Augusta in 2020 have Scheffler in position this week to do something even Tiger Woods did not accomplish: becoming the first to win back-to-back Fed Ex Cups - REUTERS
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