The World No.1 carded a two-under-par 70 on Sunday to beat Ben Griffin by four strokes as he became the first man since Tiger Woods to win Nicklaus' tournament back-to-back.
The Golden Bear joined Scheffler in the press conference room once the trophy had been decided, where he was asked about what makes the Texan so elite. He had some high praise for Scheffler as well as some frank words for his competitors.
"Well, I think that great players are ones who rise to the occasion and ones who know how to play coming down the stretch in important events," Nicklaus said.
"Looking at the leaderboard today, he didn't have - I mean, Ben Griffin's a nice player, Sepp Straka is a nice player, Nick Taylor is a nice player. Those were all the guys that were there basically coming down the stretch.
"But he knows that those guys, you know, are not in his league.
"Now, if he would have had - I don't know who else it might have been, but if he had somebody else at the top, if Xander or somebody like that would have been there, he might have said, 'Well, that might be a little tougher. I might have to do something different.' He didn't have to.
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"I just asked Scottie if he watched the leaderboard. He says, Yeah, I do. Well, I did too. I always watched the leaderboard and found out what my competition was and always felt like what level I had to play to fight that competition off.
"Sometimes you would have to fight it off because you knew they would self-destruct. So, obviously, you just don't make dumb mistakes, play solid golf, and you win.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
"He is such a good player, and he drove the ball beautifully today. Like he said, he drove the ball, but he never put himself in jeopardy. He didn't put himself in a position to lose the golf tournament. He was always in a position to win.
"And if he had to do something more spectacular, he was in a position to do so. But he didn't have to. So you don't take any chances to do that."
Scheffler's latest triumph is his 16th PGA Tour title and third victory in four starts after also winning the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and PGA Championship in May.
He will take his usual week off before a Major before teeing it up at the US Open at Oakmont, which begins on June 12.
Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, X and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 and 2025 Masters from Augusta National and was there by the 18th green to watch Rory McIlroy complete the career grand slam. He has also covered five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
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