It has baffled everyone. Fans. Analysts. Fellow pros. Team captain. In fact, you can say it has baffled Scottie Scheffler himself. He can’t fully explain why he falters whenever he dons the Team USA jersey and pairs up with folks he knows all too well: Sam Burns, Russell Henley, Brooks Koepka, and others. Naturally, that has led to the most inevitable thing.
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Theories. And opinions. From fans, armchair critics, podcasters, journalists, and analysts. Everyone who likes to watch grown men whacking a round white ball for living has chimed in to explain the baffling paradox of the world’s best golfer playing like a journeyman in the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup. Now there is another entrant into the scene. And this person might just be the most qualified of us all: Scottie Scheffler’s dad.
The unassuming father of the unassuming World No. 1 quietly follows his son in most events he plays. Quite natural then, Scott Scheffler, in an offhand conversation with two Golf Channel journalists at Medinah, revealed what was wrong with his son’s game. It’s not driving or iron play; it’s the mentality.
“You and I were walking with Scott Scheffler, Scottie’s Dad,” Rex Hoggard said on the Rex & Lav Podcast while talking about an incident from Thursday. “He said Scottie needs to relax; he needs to go and pretend this is a normal round of golf. I think when he puts the flag on either here or at the Ryder Cup, there is so much pressure that comes with that.”
What was Scheffler Sr. hinting at? It’s that Scottie tries too hard to move the needle for Team USA. So whenever he is representing the country, an added weight of carrying the team keeps mounting over his shoulder.
His captain and teammates also know it. They’ve tried to help. Brandt Snedeker even went on to say that the Americans won’t win or lose because of Scottie Scheffler alone. Snedeker said he wanted Scheffler to be comfortable, have fun, and play as himself.
But it’s easier said than done.
Assistant captain Gary Woodland revealed Scheffler has embraced the role of a leader: “Scottie is the leader of our team. At the end of the day, he’s the best player in the world. The guys look to him. His voice carries more weight.”
Scheffler himself said as much. “As a hypercompetitive person, sometimes I can probably try too hard,” Scheffler said before the Presidents Cup when reminded of his struggles at team events. “When you look at this format, and like you said, maybe my record hasn’t matched up to what I think it should be, could it be trying too hard? I think that’s definitely a factor for sure.”
Before Medinah, Scheffler was 3-5-1 (wins-losses-ties) at Presidents Cups and 3-6-3 at Ryder Cups, a combined 6-11-4. His foursomes record across the two events was 1-7. It got worse at Medinah on Friday.
Competing against Corey Conners and Nick Taylor, who had a combined two top-10s in the PGA Tour this season, Scheffler and Sam Burns grabbed a 1-up lead after a birdie on the par-four 2nd. But the International pair tied it on the third, and by the sixth they took the 1-up lead, which they kept till the 18th. Scheffler called match play a little “flukey” format, and it was evident in his game.
Consider the fact that Scheffler is one of the best putters on the Tour. He ranks 6th in SG: Putting this year, the first time in many years, he broke into the top-10 in that category. Yesterday, at Medinah, his putting was reminiscent of 2023-24, when he was 162nd on the PGA Tour. Scheffler lost 1.39 strokes with his flatstick paired up with Sam Burns.
He has now lost eight of the nine foursomes he has played in the Ryder Cup and the Presidents Cup. His overall record stands at a meek 7-12-4.
You can argue that he has perhaps played better than what those awful numbers suggest. But the fact of the matter is it doesn’t help Team USA when their best performer—at least on paper—fails to show up.
Of course, Team Europe’s Ryder Cup success cannot be attributed solely to Rory McIlroy or Jon Rahm. But it helps to see two of your best players going out and absolutely crushing it.
It helps to see a leader like Rory telling a heckler to “shut the f— up” and sticking an iron to three feet. Or Rahm holing out from the greenside bunker to shush a hostile crowd.
Scheffler knows what is expected of him as the best player of Team USA. And that realization is perhaps complicating it further for the World No. 1. In that he might just find a companion: Tiger Woods.
From 37 Ryder Cup matches across eight appearances, Woods accumulated only 14.5 points, winning just 39.2% of potential points. Scottie Scheffler has matched many of Woods’s records. But this is one part of Woods’ legacy that Scheffler would probably prefer not to share.