It was another dominant showing from Scottie Scheffler as he lifted the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush on Sunday, strolling to his second major victory of 2025 and the fourth of his career.
It was a fascinating week to follow the World No.1 - from his five minute monologue on his priorities in life earlier in the week to watching him on the course battle the Dunluce Links, the elements and an atmosphere from a crowd that clearly did not want him to win due to the presence of home favorite Rory McIlroy on the leaderboard.
Scottie spoke to us in the media tent following his dominant win, but these were the five main takeaways I took from his press conference.
He called his win the "best performance mentally" of his career
Considering how good he has been up to this point, is Scottie suggesting he hasn't even reached the top of his game yet?
"It's taken a lot of work - not only a lot of work, but it takes a lot of patience. It's a high level of focus over 72 holes of a tournament. This was one of my best performances mentally" he told media in his post-tournament presser.
"To only have one double bogey, really only one over par hole in the last 36 holes of a major championship, that's how you're able to win these tournaments."
For as much as the critics cite Scottie's lack of charisma on the course, there is a reason he's so cold out there. Following him Saturday and Sunday, there was little to no emotion other than when an important putt dropped which sometimes meant a fist pump followed. There were little to no waves to the crowd, tips of the hat or recognition of crowd support at Royal Portrush. Why? Because he was so unbelievably locked in, with tunnel vision focus on one thing - winning.
If his mental game is improving, that makes him an even scarier prospect for the rest of his competition, if that was even possible.
Tiger comparisons are silly
Humble as always, Scheffler branded comparisons to he and Tiger Woods as "silly".
"Tiger won, what, 15 majors? This is my fourth. I just got one-fourth of the way there. I think Tiger stands alone in the game of golf," he said.
"I'm not motivated by winning championships. I don't look at the beginning of the year and just say, hey, I want to win X amount of tournaments, I want to win whatever it is. I don't do that. I have dreams and aspirations that I think about, but at the end of the day, when I wake up to practise, I feel like what motivates me is just getting out and getting to live out my dream."
When asked about whether he was concerned about breaking records in the game, he gave another honest answer:
"Not really. I think -- I've always done my best when I'm able to live in the present. For me, I always rely on the effort that I put in. When I step on the first tee, I remind myself that I'm prepared and I just try to go out there and compete. That's all I'm focused on."
I think it's easy to take this answer as a long-winded version of saying "I don't care", but this would be disingenuous. Instead of judging himself on wins and losses, Scheffler instead just wants to be the best he can be.
The result of a tournament is not the be all and end all. He made no secret about the fact that he hates losing when speaking to us earlier in the week, but he's also a realist - golfers aren't expected to win week in, week out.
The result of a tournament won't define him and, realistically, he doesn't really care about how you or I define him either. He's focused on his faith, his family and being as good a golfer as he can be. If he wins, great - a dream has been accomplished. If not then OK, let's get back to work.
Does this allow him to play more freely and feel less pressure? I would argue so.
He enjoyed playing the villain in Northern Ireland
Golf is better when there are heroes and villains. Sport is is better when there are heroes and villains.
Like any great piece of art or theatre, if you like every character it becomes harder for emotions to be stirred.
To state the obvious, Rory McIlroy was the hero at Royal Portrush. The vast majority of the fans on site wanted him to win and thus, Scottie not to. Scottie referenced this in his presser, but one particular comment raised my eyebrow.
"To be honest with you, walking up 18, I didn't really know if I was going to get that much support from the crowd. The crowd, I think, wanted somebody else to win this week, and I kind of got to play spoiler a little bit, which was fun as well."
Ohhhh, OK then Scottie...
You liked playing the villain? Maybe there is a bit more character to the best in the world than meets the eye.
I can't tell you how much I loved hearing this - he knew the crowd didn't want him to win and with this chip on his shoulder, it helped motivate him to spoil the party, per say.
It was a week where Scottie was brutally honest with us in the media tent and this was another little nugget that I appreciated - he wants to win, and he couldn't care less how you feel about it when he does. This is a mindset often reserved for the true greats in any sport and can explain why Scheffler has reached the pinnacle on the men's game and looks set to stay there.
He doesn't want to be the superstar - and that is OK
"I would say my greatest priorities are my faith and my family. Those come first for me. Golf is third in that order."
Scottie spoke about how he goes to a Chipotle in his home town, of which he wouldn't share where, simply because he knows he won't get noticed.
You don't see him on commercials. There aren't many sponsors on his golf bag. He doesn't feature in TGL - he doesn't want and couldn't care about the limelight - and that's fine.
Not everyone with talent as high as his were born to be the Jordans or Federers or even Tigers of their respective sports. He admits he isn't that type of star and he doesn't care whether you like that or not.
"This week I was the best player in the world. I'm sitting here with the trophy. We're going to start all over in Memphis, back to even-par, show goes on.
"I don't think that I'm anything special just because some weeks I'm better at shooting a lower score than other guys are."
Part of me wants the best in golf, or any sport for that matter, to truly live and breathe the sport and to care about winning at all costs, to smash records and to cement a legacy to last for the rest of time. This isn't Scottie, but even though this leaves me wanting a little more from the World No.1, it also reminds me that winning isn't everything. Sport isn't everything. Life goes on and other things are more important.
The cynics may question whether Scheffler really believes his order of priorities and could even cite it as a defection tactic to deal with the pressure of being the best - I don't think this could be further from the truth. Scottie is Scottie, just a kid from Texas who wanted to be a professional golfer his whole life and has now reached the mountain top. His honesty in relation to this may disappoint some but in my eyes it only makes him more of a fascinating character.
"I wanted to be a professional golfer, so I wore pants"
Speaking of tunnel vision, Scheffler has always had his sights set on being a professional golfer, so much so that he would get picked on by other kids because of it:
"I just grew up a kid in Texas that wanted to play professional golf. I grew up wearing pants to the golf course because that's what I wanted to do. I saw professional golfers like Justin Leonard, Harrison Frazar, those types of guys on TV wearing pants, and I was like, I want to be like those guys. So I used to wear pants to grow up to play golf. It would be 100 degrees out. I'd be way too hot. People would make fun of me.
"But that's what I wanted to do; I wanted to be a professional golfer, so I wore pants."
Scheffler was prepared to be uncomfortable if it meant helping him prepare for a future as one of the best in the world. This mindset, especially as a child, can help partly explain why he now has four major championships by the age of 29.
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