World No 1 and Masters champion Scottie Scheffler is an absolute novice at links golf – he’s played just four courses – but he thinks he ‘got’ it right off the bat.
The World No 1 hasn’t played a Scottish links other than last year’s Genesis Scottish Open at The Renaissance. Most purists would insist doesn’t even actually qualify as a links course. He’ll be visiting St Andrews for the first time next week.
He played Sandwich last year in The Open, Ballybunion and Lahinch last week while in Ireland. That’s your lot.
“When I first came over here, everyone is like, ‘oh, have to play your ball along the ground’,” he recalled.” I’m thinking, ‘they are making it up, I’ll just play like I normally do at home.’
“But when you get out here, it came really naturally to me. When I get around the greens and don’t see my normal pitches, it’s just much simpler to play those bouncier shots into the greens. It’s just something that I just immediately saw.
“In the US you play by the numbers. Out here you can bounce it and use the mounds and hills and whatever you want. You’re not limited by stuff that you’re limited by at home.”
‘You’re not really dictated by anything’
World No. 1 and FedExCup leader Scottie Scheffler chats with Sky Sports prior to his second start at the Genesis Scottish Open (T12/2021). pic.twitter.com/JTUPH93AdX
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) July 6, 2022
That freedom makes it much more fun, he thinks.
“I think here I’m just hitting so many different types of shots. When it gets this windy, Teddy (Scott, his caddie) just hands me a club and is like, `I think it’s a four – good luck, man.’
“You’ve got to take ownership of what you’re doing. Here, you’re not really dictated by anything. Outside of the wind, you can kind of just do whatever you want, which is really fun.”
Scheffler is firmly on the side of the loyalists on the PGA Tour and while World No 1, he feels it necessary to follow the senior figures.
“There are a lot of guys have been carrying this tour for years; Rory, Tiger, Jordan, JT,” he said.
“As far as I’m concerned wherever those guys are going, that’s where I’m going to be.
“I’m friends with a lot of guys at different levels on the tour and they all have different concerns that need to be addressed.
“It’s evident that we have guys like Rory and Tiger that are very involved in what the tour does. I think they’re doing a really good job in that.”
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