Scheffler’s Sunday approach to the treacherous ninth green for birdie was inch perfect, so too the delightful wedge to the 14th that effectively sealed the title. In between he birdied 10 and negotiated Amen Corner without disaster, just as you are supposed to do.
“It’s not just the fact that he won it, it is the way that he won it,” 5 Live summariser Trish Johnson told me. “He gave everybody a chance and each of them tried but every time he was tested he came up trumps.
“There’s something very special about Scottie Scheffler and I’m not sure I realised how special before this week.”
Johnson, the reigning US Seniors Open champion and veteran of eight Solheim Cups, is a hugely respected observer of the game. She points to Scheffler’s faith and sense of perspective as factors that set him apart.
“He is so cool and the fact is, he doesn’t think golf is the most important thing in his life,” Johnson observed.
“Technically he is unusual. And if you watch his swing without slowing it down you wonder how he has hit so many shots with that swing.
“But when you slow it down and see that impact position his right foot position is kind of irrelevant to what happens in the rest of the swing. Technically he is therefore very sound even though it looks a bit bizarre in full motion.
“But I think his major plus is his mind. As he says, golf is not the most important thing. Of course it is massively important but he plays as if it is not.
“The last day of the Masters was something quite special because he was in a bit of trouble and then he went into another gear. You get some players that the others just see and think oh no I can’t beat him, like Tiger in his prime.”
Johnson believes Scheffler has now built such a formidable reputation, his name appearing on future leaderboards will strike fear among rivals.
“They know he doesn’t back off ,” said the 58-year-old Englishwoman. “And then you get that aura about someone and you see their name at the top of the leaderboard and you think, ah, here we go again.”
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