Scottie Scheffler Makes Candid Admission Days Before The Open
The 2025 Open Championship, the final major of the year, tees off this Thursday at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. With the season's biggest storylines circling here, it's also a chance for World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler to add another major to his already dominant season, one that includes a second Masters title, a PGA Championship win, and an Olympic gold medal.
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Scheffler, who enters the Open riding high with three wins in his last 10 events, opened up during a pre-tournament press conference in rare and revealing fashion. He spoke about the emotional cost of professional golf, saying, 'It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes.'
Scottie Scheffler looks at the trophy of Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Course.Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Reflecting on his victory at the Byron Nelson earlier this year, he said, 'It's such an amazing moment… then it's like, OK, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on.'
Despite his on-course success, Scheffler admitted he struggles with the deeper meaning of it all. 'This is not a fulfilling life,' he said. 'It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.' He emphasized that being a good father and husband is more important than winning trophies. 'If my golf ever started affecting my home life… that's going to be the last day that I play out here.'
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Scheffler's honesty contrasts with the mindset of past icons like Tiger Woods and Kobe Bryant, and perhaps reflects a shift in how today's athletes view their careers.
Now, as the Open returns to Portrush where Shane Lowry triumphed in 2019, the challenge ahead is both mental and physical. For Scheffler, the goal remains the same. But as he says, 'Playing professional sports is a really weird thing… we work so hard for something that's so fleeting.'
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 15, 2025, where it first appeared.
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