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Yahoo
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Scottie Scheffler goes deep on becoming the world's best golfer: 'What's the point?'
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Deep thoughts with Scottie Scheffler. The world No. 1 gave one of the most revealing answers of the year during his press conference on Tuesday ahead of the 153rd British Open in what turned into a therapy session of sorts for him. It was an answer that addressed just about everything but the meaning of life. Scheffler gets introspective after question about celebrating It all stemmed from a rather straightforward question to Scheffler (as they so often do). This one began by asking him how he defined a slump, which he rather quickly dismissed, but the re-direct struck a nerve when asked to name the longest he's celebrated a success. That's when Scheffler let us all behind the curtain. 'You work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling,' he said. 'To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf, to have an opportunity to win that tournament. You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister's there, it's such an amazing moment. Then it's like, OK, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on.' So, too, did Scheffler's answer. He was only getting started. 'Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about, because I've literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport. To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world because what's the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart,' he said. 'There's a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfill them in life, and you get there, you get to No. 1 in the world, and they're like, what's the point? I really do believe that, because what is the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so bad? "That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. It's like showing up at the Masters every year; it's like why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win The Open Championship so badly? I don't know because, if I win, it's going to be awesome for two minutes. Then we're going to get to the next week, hey, you won two majors this year; how important is it for you to win the FedEx Cup playoffs? And we're back here again. So we really do; we work so hard for such little moments. I'm kind of a sicko; I love putting in the work. I love getting to practice. I love getting to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just don't understand the point.' Scheffler paused here and posed a question back at the room of journalists. 'I don't know if I'm making any sense or not. Am I not? It's just one of those deals. I love the challenge. I love being able to play this game for a living. It's one of the greatest joys of my life, but does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart? Absolutely not.' Rory McIlroy understands Scheffler's perspective Rory McIlroy can relate. He won the career Grand Slam in April, becoming just the sixth player since Gene Sarazen in 1935. A childhood dream was fulfilled. But this week marks the third major since and it quickly has turned into a case of what have you done for us lately? 'That's the nature of professional golf. They do a very good job of keeping you on the hamster wheel, and you feel like it's hard to get off at times,' said McIlroy on Monday, who talked about making a New Year's resolution to have more fun and trying to enjoy his career Grand Slam achievement. 'It's been an amazing year. The fact that I'm here at Portrush with the Green Jacket, having completed that lifelong dream, as you said, I want to do my best this week to enjoy everything that comes my way and enjoy the reaction of the fans and enjoy being in front of them and playing in front of them. But at the same time, I want to win this golf tournament, and I feel like I'm very capable of doing that.' Scheffler calls it a daily struggle to avoid making golf define him. He compartmentalizes his life in such a way so that when he leaves the golf course, he doesn't bring golf home with him. This wasn't the first time he shared the anxiety he's experienced heading into the final round at the Masters when he won. Ahead of the 2023 Masters, when his wife was pregnant and back home in Dallas, Scheffler recounted the advice one of his buddies who was staying at his rental house gave him. 'I wish I didn't want to win as much as I do. I wish it didn't matter this much to me. I wish I didn't care as much about the result and could just go out and play and enjoy it,' Scheffler said on The Bible Caddie podcast. 'My buddy said, 'Well, your victory is secure on the cross and that's really all you need to know.' I was like, OK, that's a good line. I'm going to think about that.' Scheffler prioritizes time in the morning to read scripture, noting Numbers 24-26 as a particular passage of scripture that he reads from a devotional book on his iPad. He listens to music with Christian themes such as Need to Breathe and is strong in his faith without coming across to the masses as a Bible thumper. 'It's super rare in sports to see the top of the top, who are the best at their sport, faithfully walk with golf,' said Webb Simpson, a past U.S. Open champion, on the podcast that he co-hosts to Scheffler. 'A lot of young listeners, high school guys or even college kids around us, they are fearful that if they walk with the Lord they're going to lose their competitive edge. Somehow, somebody thought a long time ago that because you're a Christian means you're a soft competitor. But you embody a faithful man of God who is a fierce competitor.' When Simpson asked him how he is able to do that, Scheffler gave an equally telling answer: 'I feel like God kind of created me with a little bit of extra competitiveness. Since I was a kid, whatever we were doing, I always wanted to be the best at that thing.' He continued. 'I feel like we're called to go out to use our talent for God's glory and in my head it feels like being an extremely competitive person going out there and fighting and trying to do our best and then taking our hats off and shaking hands and being done at the end of the day.' Scheffler says losing 'sucks' Back at the Open media press conference, Scheffler was asked what losing is like for him. 'It sucks. I hate it. I really do,' he said. 'That's why we try to work so hard to not lose, but golf's a game where you just lose a lot more often than you win. That's just a simple part of it. In basketball or football, when there's only two guys out there, you can win a lot more than you lose.' Scheffler referenced tennis and while he didn't have all the details correct, he pointed to a story that Roger Federer, the winner of 103 ATP titles and 20 majors, had told as graduation speaker to Dartmouth College. Federer told the students that he had only won 54 percent of all the points he had played during his career, just more than half. 'You can work harder than you thought possible and still lose,' Federer said, before adding: 'Perfection is impossible." 'Playing professional sports is a really weird thing to do, it really is," Scheffler said. "Just because we put in so much effort, we work so hard for something that's so fleeting, it really is. The feeling of winning just doesn't last that long. It just doesn't satisfy is how I would describe it. It's an unsatisfying venture.' Scheffler should be applauded for giving all of us a rare insight into the mind of an elite golfer who has experienced the highest of highs, winning 16 times on the PGA Tour since February 2023, and yet the moment of joy is fleeting. But it is also a drug that he can't get enough of and perhaps this week he'll feel fulfilled ever-so-briefly again. Two minutes later, and it will be on to the FedEx Cup. But win or lose, euphoria or disgust, he will continue his daily struggle to not let golf define who he is. This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Scottie Scheffler on becoming No. 1 golfer: 'What's the point?'
Belfast Telegraph
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Belfast Telegraph
The Open: Rival's tribute to 'the legend' of Rory McIlroy while Saturday action ‘tweaked' due to loyalist parade
Scottie Scheffler: 'What's the point? It's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart' If you missed this yesterday then this from Scottie Scheffler's press conference is well worth a read or a watch as he has a bit of stream of consciousness on the 'why' of being a top level golfer, and about life. "You work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling. To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf to have an opportunity to win that tournament. "You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister's there, it's such an amazing moment. Then it's like, okay, what are we going to eat for dinner? Life goes on. "Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about because I've literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport. To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. But at the end of the day, I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world because what's the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart. "There's a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fullfill them in life, and you get there, you get to number one in the world, and they're like what's the point? I really do believe that because what is the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so bad? "That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. I don't know because, if I win, it's going to be awesome for two minutes. Then we're going to get to the next week, hey, you won two majors this year; how important is it for you to win the FedExCup playoffs? And we're back here again. "So we really do; we work so hard for such little moments. I'm kind of sicko; I love putting in the work. I love getting to practice. I love getting to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just don't understand the point. I love being able to play this game for a living. It's one of the greatest joys of my life, but does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart? Absolutely not. "I love being a father. I love being able to take care of my son. I love being able to provide for my family out here playing golf. Every day when I wake up early to go put in the work, my wife thanks me for going out and working so hard. When I get home, I try and thank her every day for taking care of our son. That's why I talk about family being my priority because it really is. "I'm blessed to be able to come out here and play golf, but if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that's going to be the last day that I play out here for a living. This is not the be all, end all. This is not the most important thing in my life. That's why I wrestle with, why is this so important to me? Because I'd much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer. At the end of the day, that's what's more important to me."
Yahoo
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘What's the point?' Here's what Scottie Scheffler really told us in his ‘crisis' speech
In a digital age fueled by micro-doses of dopamine, it's not often that a five-minute monologue goes viral. At what was an otherwise mundane press conference at Royal Portrush ahead of this week's Open Championship, the world's No 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, gave a startlingly honest speech on what it feels like to win a trophy. Elation, he said. And then it's gone. 'It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for a few minutes – it only lasts a few minutes, that euphoric feeling,' said the 29-year-old. 'To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home [in Texas], I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf to have an opportunity to win that tournament. And you win it, get to celebrate, hug my family, my sisters are there, it's such an amazing moment. And it's like: 'Okay, now, what are we going to eat for dinner?' Life goes on. Advertisement 'What's the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so bad? That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. Showing up at the Masters every year, it's like: why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win the Open Championship so badly? I don't know. Because if I win, it's going to be awesome for two minutes. Then we're going to get to the next week and it's: 'Hey, you won two majors this year, how important is it for you to win the FedExCup play-offs?' And we're back here again.' Scheffler's speech was interpreted in some quarters as a kind of personal crisis: he's burnt out, he's lost his desire, he's quitting golf. Yet his point wasn't to reveal some great personal turmoil, but instead to lay bare the realities of what it's really like to achieve your dreams. What he was describing was 'arrival fallacy', the misplaced belief that reaching a particular goal will bring lasting happiness and fulfilment. In his book Happier, Tal Ben-Shahar explains arrival fallacy as the feeling of disappointment or emptiness that follows success, which comes as a shock in itself. There is an expectation that the goal will make you feel fulfilled and satisfied, but once you arrive, that sense of completion is brief or even non-existent. Scottie Scheffler speaking at a press conference ahead of The Open (Getty Images) Scottie Scheffler speaking at a press conference ahead of The Open (Getty Images) Advertisement Many athletes have experienced similar feelings to Scheffler, albeit few have ever voiced it with such clarity. The 'Olympic blues' is a common phenomenon felt by athletes after the Games, a crash after the high of the event, and that kind of reality-comedown is a feeling that extends to the very greatest to have ever played sport, when their entire purpose is suddenly stripped away by success. 'Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me?' Tom Brady asked in 2005. 'I think: God, it's gotta be more than this.' You do not have to be an athlete to know that feeling, of finally getting the salary or promotion or house that you have been striving towards, and then realising it wasn't the answer after all. But professional sport comes wrapped up in its own layer of existential crisis. What is it all for? To us – the spectator – sport offers a world to escape to, a rich tapestry full of heroes and villains, of tension and jeopardy, all held together by rituals and traditions and the comfort that the azaleas will bloom at Augusta, Wimbledon will be played on freshly mown grass, and everyone will play each other twice in the Premier League. Sport is a kind of group therapy, a safe space for big feelings like pride and heartbreak and ambition to run free. And perhaps we too often assume the people in it are just characters in the story, or that they feel just like we do. Being great at sport is inherently weird. There are 8 billion people on the planet, and Scheffler is the best at hitting a little ball into a little hole 500 yards away. And although he insists he still enjoys it, perhaps he is entitled, even obliged, to ask: Why? What is this for? Or as he put it, four times: 'What is the point?' Scheffler has won the greatest prizes in golf, including The Masters twice (REUTERS) Scheffler has won the greatest prizes in golf, including The Masters twice (REUTERS) Advertisement 'To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what's the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.' He doesn't draw real fulfilment from what people might expect – trophies and prizes – but everything else. He gets his kicks from the grind, the process of working hard and striving to improve so that he can deliver for his family. 'Every day when I wake up early to go put in the work, my wife thanks me for going out and working so hard. When I get home, I try to thank her every day for taking care of our son. That's why I talk about family being my priority, because it really is. I'm blessed to be able to come out here and play golf, but if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that's going to be the last day that I play out here for a living.' Scheffler isn't disillusioned with golf. Actually, he was telling us something simpler: that, like everybody else, he is searching for meaning and purpose in life, and he has found it – not at the top of world rankings, but in his work, and in his family. He is telling us, from the top of the world, to go look for happiness somewhere else.
The Independent
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
‘What's the point?' Here's what Scottie Scheffler really told us in his ‘crisis' speech
In a digital age fueled by micro-doses of dopamine, it's not often that a five-minute monologue goes viral. At what was an otherwise mundane press conference at Royal Portrush ahead of this week's Open Championship, the world's No 1 golfer, Scottie Scheffler, gave a startlingly honest speech on what it feels like to win a trophy. Elation, he said. And then it's gone. 'It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for a few minutes – it only lasts a few minutes, that euphoric feeling,' said the 29-year-old. 'To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home [in Texas], I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf to have an opportunity to win that tournament. And you win it, get to celebrate, hug my family, my sisters are there, it's such an amazing moment. And it's like: 'Okay, now, what are we going to eat for dinner?' Life goes on. 'What's the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so bad? That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. Showing up at the Masters every year, it's like: why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win the Open Championship so badly? I don't know. Because if I win, it's going to be awesome for two minutes. Then we're going to get to the next week and it's: 'Hey, you won two majors this year, how important is it for you to win the FedExCup play-offs?' And we're back here again.' Scheffler's speech was interpreted in some quarters as a kind of personal crisis: he's burnt out, he's lost his desire, he's quitting golf. Yet his point wasn't to reveal some great personal turmoil, but instead to lay bare the realities of what it's really like to achieve your dreams. What he was describing was 'arrival fallacy', the misplaced belief that reaching a particular goal will bring lasting happiness and fulfilment. In his book Happier, Tal Ben-Shahar explains arrival fallacy as the feeling of disappointment or emptiness that follows success, which comes as a shock in itself. There is an expectation that the goal will make you feel fulfilled and satisfied, but once you arrive, that sense of completion is brief or even non-existent. Many athletes have experienced similar feelings to Scheffler, albeit few have ever voiced it with such clarity. The 'Olympic blues' is a common phenomenon felt by athletes after the Games, a crash after the high of the event, and that kind of reality-comedown is a feeling that extends to the very greatest to have ever played sport, when their entire purpose is suddenly stripped away by success. 'Why do I have three Super Bowl rings and still think there's something greater out there for me?' Tom Brady asked in 2005. 'I think: God, it's gotta be more than this.' You do not have to be an athlete to know that feeling, of finally getting the salary or promotion or house that you have been striving towards, and then realising it wasn't the answer after all. But professional sport comes wrapped up in its own layer of existential crisis. What is it all for? To us – the spectator – sport offers a world to escape to, a rich tapestry full of heroes and villains, of tension and jeopardy, all held together by rituals and traditions and the comfort that the azaleas will bloom at Augusta, Wimbledon will be played on freshly mown grass, and everyone will play each other twice in the Premier League. Sport is a kind of group therapy, a safe space for big feelings like pride and heartbreak and ambition to run free. And perhaps we too often assume the people in it are just characters in the story, or that they feel just like we do. Being great at sport is inherently weird. There are 8 billion people on the planet, and Scheffler is the best at hitting a little ball into a little hole 500 yards away. And although he insists he still enjoys it, perhaps he is entitled, even obliged, to ask: Why? What is this for? Or as he put it, four times: 'What is the point?' 'To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world, because what's the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.' He doesn't draw real fulfilment from what people might expect – trophies and prizes – but everything else. He gets his kicks from the grind, the process of working hard and striving to improve so that he can deliver for his family. 'Every day when I wake up early to go put in the work, my wife thanks me for going out and working so hard. When I get home, I try to thank her every day for taking care of our son. That's why I talk about family being my priority, because it really is. I'm blessed to be able to come out here and play golf, but if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that's going to be the last day that I play out here for a living.' Scheffler isn't disillusioned with golf. Actually, he was telling us something simpler: that, like everybody else, he is searching for meaning and purpose in life, and he has found it – not at the top of world rankings, but in his work, and in his family. He is telling us, from the top of the world, to go look for happiness somewhere else.
Indian Express
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Indian Express
‘You work whole life only to celebrate winning for few minutes': Watch Scottie Scheffler's amazing 5-minute-long response
Golfer Scottie Scheffler has given one of the greatest press conference responses of all time with a five-minute-long answer questioning the short-lived euphoria of winning golf's biggest tournaments. Talking to reporters ahead of The Open Championship at Royal Portrush, Scheffler questioned whether a true sense of meaning can be derived by hitting the white ball. For the record, Scheffler does an incredible job of hitting the little white ball: he is one of the hottest favourites to win the year's final major championship. In fact, Scheffler hasn't finished outside the top 10 in a golf tournament since The Players Championship. He has added three more trophies to his display during this run of form, including the Wanamaker Trophy from the PGA Championship. But Scheffler is not very happy at the hard work to satisfaction ratio in the sport. Here's his long answer that's now gone viral: 'It feels like you work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for like a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling. To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally worked my entire life to become good at golf to have an opportunity to win that tournament. You win it, you celebrate, get to hug my family, my sister's there, it's such an amazing moment. Then it's like, 'OK, what are we going to eat for dinner?' Life goes on,' Scheffler began. 'Is it great to be able to win tournaments and to accomplish the things I have in the game of golf? Yeah, it brings tears to my eyes just to think about because I've literally worked my entire life to be good at this sport. To have that kind of sense of accomplishment, I think, is a pretty cool feeling. To get to live out your dreams is very special. But at the end of the day, I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world because, what's the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart. 'There's a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfill them in life, and you get there, you get to No. 1 in the world, and they're like, what's the point? I really do believe that, because what is the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so bad? That's something that I wrestle with on a daily basis. It's like showing up at the Masters every year; it's like, why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win The Open Championship so badly? I don't know because, if I win, it's going to be awesome for two minutes. Then we're going to get to the next week, hey, you won two majors this year; how important is it for you to win the FedExCup playoffs? And we're back here again. 'So we really work so hard for such little moments. I'm kind of a sicko; I love putting in the work. I love getting to practice. I love getting to live out my dreams. But at the end of the day, sometimes I just don't understand the point. 'I don't know if I'm making any sense or not. Am I not? It's just one of those deals. I love the challenge. I love being able to play this game for a living. It's one of the greatest joys of my life, but does it fill the deepest wants and desires of my heart? Absolutely not,' said Scheffler in a remarkable response. Scheffler was not done. The golfer went on to add: 'I love playing golf. I love being able to compete. I love living out my dreams. I love being a father. I love being able to take care of my son. I love being able to provide for my family out here playing golf,' he continued. 'Every day when I wake up early to go put in the work, my wife thanks me for going out and working so hard. When I get home, I try and thank her every day for taking care of our son. That's why I talk about family being my priority because it really is. I'm blessed to be able to come out here and play golf, but if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that's going to be the last day that I play out here for a living. 'This is not the be all, end all. This is not the most important thing in my life. That's why I wrestle with, why is this so important to me? Because I'd much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer. At the end of the day, that's what's more important to me.'
