The expression, ‘never meet your heroes because they might disappoint you’ exists for a reason.
I recently returned after working at my eighth Olympics in media since 1992. Given the privilege of my accreditation and nature of the job, I have been able to interview, spend time in their company and even watch from a distance as some legends of their trade have reacted, both in public and behind the scenes.
It would be churlish to mention those household names who have disappointed. You don’t need to like me, or even respect what I do and that’s fine. But when you are courtside and see a top player tell a teenage ballboy that he’s ‘an asshole’ for tossing a towel to him and it flutters to fall at his feet and not in his hand, it’s an image that sticks for life.
There have been many disappointments over the years. Scottie Scheffler is not one of them and from a very limited interaction with him at Le Golf National at the 2024 Olympics he struck me as, ‘a regular guy’. A regular guy who just happens to be No 1 in the world and the winningest golfer in the world since Tiger Woods in his prime.
The privilege of being an accredited member and being able to see the best athletes in their environments obviously means I wouldn’t reveal any details of the interaction at Le Golf National but to say that on and off the course he truly is a class act. I’m not one for autographs but if I was, I’d have asked him for one.
Which is why I wasn’t surprised to read that he is often to be found on a rare weekend off at his home club of Royal Oaks in Dallas, playing for a few dollars. Win or lose, nothing is going to make a dent in the $64-million that he’s earned this year.
But, he’s dead serious when he says that he doesn’t like to lose. Lose he does, because golf is the only sport that I can think of where the best player in the world can lose to Joe Average, thanks to the handicap system.
‘Depends on the game, but at home I’m typically playing to a +7,’ Scheffler told media. ‘I used to be a +5. They moved me to a +7. So now we’ve got guys in the group that are getting like two strokes a hole. I typically still win more often than not, I feel like, but it’s just fun. If you’re going out there with a 12, 13 handicap you don’t know what the heck is going to happen.’
It speaks volumes for Scheffler that he regularly plays in groups where there are double-digit handicappers which often means that he has to give them 20 shots per round.
‘I do not want to be giving anyone money at the end of the day whether it’s $5 or $500,’ Scheffler said of the guy he gives 20 strokes to. ‘I do not want to take out my wallet and hand him money at the end of the day. That’s just not in my blood. I want to win, whether we’re playing ping-pong or whatever it is.’
Scheffler also has a sense of humour. He hit a horrible shank during the Tour Championship in Atlanta and afterwards was grilled by a reporter: ‘Why did you shank it?’ The American then explained how a shank happens. He wasn’t being arrogant, but in truth he highlighted that even the most dominant golfer in the game can hit a shot that a 16-handicapper will do, albeit more often.
Which is why we all love golf – and Scottie Scheffler.
– This column first appeared in the October 2024 issue of Compleat Golfer magazine.
Photo: Andy Lyons/Getty Images