Scottie Scheffler enters the Memorial Tournament as the defending champion, but that doesn’t make him feel overconfident as he prepares for Thursday’s opening round in Dublin, Ohio.
“When you show up to an event, everybody’s at even par,” Scheffler told reporters Wednesday. “People ask, I feel like a lot, ‘What’s it like defending this week?’ I’m like, ‘Well, what does that do for me? Nothing’. I have some experience the on the golf course that can be helpful, but at the end of the day, you start even par, and I want to be in contention on Sunday, and you definitely don’t show up too high or too low.”
Scheffler, 28, is in the midst of another incredible season. In 11 tournaments, he’s won two and finished in the Top 10 eight times.
In his past six tournaments, he has won The CJ Cup Byron Nelson and PGA Championship, finished T2 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, placed fourth at the Masters Tournament, was T4 last week at the Charles Schwab Challenge, and T8 at the RBC Heritage last month.
The Memorial, founded by Jack Nicklaus at his Muirfield Village Golf Club, is Scheffler’s third consecutive weekly tournament. He said he is “rested enough.”
“My third week in a row, but I got some good rest to start — last week, after the PGA, I got some good rest Monday and Tuesday and had a good start at Colonial. Took my day off, came here, played nine holes yesterday, played nine holes this morning, so feeling ready for the week.”
And he said as with all events, he is not entering with a predetermined notion that he will win. Last year, he topped Collin Morikawa by one stroke, finishing at 8-under par to win the Memorial.
“If you show up with too low of expectations, not feeling like your game’s in a good spot, you’re probably not going to hit a lot of good shots,” he said. “And if you show up feeling way too good about yourself, I think it can have an effect on your focus. Like, if you just show up and be, like, ‘Oh, I’m best. I’m just going to show up and win this week,’ I think almost sometimes you can get a bit lazy at times out on the course. … You have to be very focused on what you’re doing.”
Even as the field heads into a $20 million signature event, Scheffler was asked to look ahead to the Tour Championship in September. The PGA Tour announced Tuesday it is doing away with the staggered scoring start that rewarded leaders in FedEx Cup points with a more favorable starting score — a change Scheffler had advocated for.
“I think when you’re looking at a golf tournament, I think the best way to identify the best player over the course of a tournament is 72-hole stroke play on a really good golf course. I think when you look at a good test of golf and you got to compete over four days, I think that’s the best way to crown the best winner for that week.
“And looking at the Tour Championship, I didn’t love the previous format of starting strokes, and I really like the direction where we’re going. I think the Tour Championship’s going to be difficult to qualify for. Making the Tour Championship is truly going to be the results from a great body of work over the course of a season, and then you have an opportunity to win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup.”
Scheffler won his first Tour Championship last season.
–Field Level Media
