Gary Player Calls On Scottie Scheffler To 'Promote Golf Internationally More'

Gary Player has called on Scottie Scheffler to add more international events to his schedule following the World No.1 recently admitting his desire to play in Australia and New Zealand.

Scheffler is closing out his 2026 season after just two international tournaments so far from 17 starts, with the Scottish Open and The Open the only events outside of America.

He will likely play in The Bahamas at the Hero World Challenge to make it three of a potential 21 tournaments outside of the USA.

Asked whether the World No.1 should travel more, nine-time Major winner Gary Player said yes.

"Scottie Scheffler is without a doubt the best player in the world today, and what I admire about Scottie Scheffler is that he’s very much a family man. And your family is so vitally important," Player said.

"I was deprived of that because I had to travel away from my family from South Africa. At least he’s lucky he lives in America, he finishes a tournament, most of these guys have their own jets, they’re back home on Sunday night and they can see them.

"But I would like to see Scottie Scheffler, who’s such a wonderful golfer and such a nice man, to travel and promote golf internationally more than he does because we have a debt incurred.

"Golf has done so much for us and if Scottie would travel and play just a little more, I would say five tournaments a year like Nicklaus did, like Palmer did, like Sam Snead did, like Trevino did, like Tom Watson.

"I think he eventually will. I think at the moment he’s so intent on setting as many records in America and I’ll follow him with great interest."

The comments come after Scheffler recently said a more international schedule would "definitely" interest him.

The PGA Tour's new Championship Series will run from February to August in 2028, and the tour will partner with the DP World Tour and other global circuits to promote events like the Australian Open.

The fall has some of the biggest international events like the Australian Open as well as the BMW PGA Championship, French Open, Dunhill Links Championship and the DP World Tour Play-Offs in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

"It definitely interests me. I'd like to see how it shapes out the next couple of years. There's a lot of places I think I'd like to play," Scheffler said this summer.

"There's always just, you know, the time and the place for me. I'm at a time in my life where I have a young family at home and young kids. The fall is a special time for our family. It's where we can really check out and be together, and I get to spend a lot of time with my kids. So I hold those moments pretty sacred.

"But at the same time I love golf and I would love to be able to play more internationally. Like Australia, New Zealand is a place we would love to be able to go to. My wife as always wanted to go to New Zealand.

"But like I said, I love this style of golf [links], and I feel like it's pretty unique to here. But going to play the Sandbelt in Australia would be pretty special as well.

"Hopefully I can find the time. It's definitely an intriguing part of the schedule and yeah, it definitely interests me, as well."

While stating that he would love to travel, Scheffler admitted his home country is where the largest audience is and conceded that it's a tough time for him to incorporate a more international schedule with a young family.

"The United States is a hub for sports, and I think that's why you see so many professional sports like the NBA and the NFL have an audience that reaches worldwide," he said.

"I definitely have a desire to travel the world and play golf, but with a young family, I'm not really in a spot right now where that is very easy for us to do.

"Coming over here for a few weeks with the time change and a two year old can be exciting, and we have a structured season now in which we compete in.

"It can be challenging to make it across the world to play. But it's something that I'll look forward to in the future."

How many international events does Scheffler play?

Scheffler's most international season to-date was his first as a pro, when he played in countries like The Bahamaas, Colombia, Panama and Mexico in his rookie year on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Since then, he has played in the Scottish Open, The Open, the Hero World Challenge in The Bahamas and occasionally one tournament in Mexico.

He also competed in the 2024 Olympics in Paris, where he won gold, but he tends to only play twice in Europe each season and has never teed it up in Asia or Australasia.

Two of the other biggest global stars in the game, Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau, travel far more than the World No.1.

McIlroy played in the UAE, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, India and Australia last year, while DeChambeau competed in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mexico, Korea, Spain and the UK as part of his LIV Golf contracted events as well as India on the Asian Tour.

Scheffler is not contracted to play in LIV events so it's unrealistic he will play as many international tournaments as DeChambeau, who remains suspended by the PGA Tour, while McIlroy is a European who holds membership on the PGA and DP World Tours concurrently.

It would be great to see Scheffler play more outside of the US, and it certainly sounds like it's a real possibility in the coming years.