TROON, Scotland — The questions came every single day, one after the other, pressing Scottie Scheffler about whether he’d leave the Masters if his wife went into labor with their first child. The entire week was framed around this emotional crossroads in his life. People and Us Weekly tracked it like celebrity gossip. Here at The Athletic, we even wrote a story about Scheffler taking the lead into Saturday night without his wife, Meredith, there alongside him.
The baby was not due for another month.
When Bennett was eventually born in May, an ESPN reporter ambiguously broke the news with the hashtag #babyborn. The PGA Tour announced it on the tour website. Scheffler’s arrival that week at the PGA Championship in Louisville, Ky., was like an appearance from the royal family.
Life is suddenly very different for Scottie Scheffler. A golfer once deemed as boring, unexciting and ho-hum has somehow gone from really good golfer to comically famous human being. A player who spoke more than anyone on tour about how important it was to keep golf and life separate — about the essential nature of staying grounded in spite of success and generational wealth — is now in another class of attention. His injuries and equipment changes are headline news. His family is tabloid fodder. A bizarre arrest in Louisville made him an international fascination. His rare weeks when he finishes outside the top 10 at a major are treated like disasters.
Scheffler has been the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world for 96 of the past 121 weeks. Yet it wasn’t until 2024 he became a superstar.
“It’s definitely been a bit trickier,” Scheffler said Tuesday before the Open Championship at Royal Troon. “I think continuing to play better this year definitely — especially at tournaments, I think there’s just a lot more going on day to day. I think I’ve had to almost lean into that more, just continuing to improve my rest so that it’s actually restful.”
Scottie and Meredith Scheffler with son Bennett after Scottie’s win at the Memorial Tournament last month. (Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
Scheffler has always gone out of his way to keep his life small. He has a few big sponsorships but keeps the number at a minimum. He doesn’t post his life on social media. He stays off his phone a remarkable amount altogether.
And before this year, all of that was fine. He was world No. 1. He was the 2022 Masters champ. But he was maybe the fifth-most famous player in his sport. He could be normal. Brush off an occasional interview? No big deal. Don’t sign for a fan? Eh, he wants other people more anyway.
But something has noticeably shifted alongside his game’s elevation to a new level in 2024. He’s won six big-time tournaments in his last 10 starts, including a second Masters green jacket in April. Conversations around major championships have become, “Who’s your pick, you know, outside of Scottie?” And though a year ago his galleries were solid but unremarkable, Scheffler now has the largest following aside from Tiger Woods as fans want to see history.
There is now a responsibility element to his public appearances. He seems to grasp that.
“It’s a pretty cool feeling to be able to make someone’s day by signing an autograph or taking a picture,” Scheffler said. “It’s a pretty fun feeling. I’m trying to embrace more of that side of it than not being able to sign everyone’s autograph. People are upset because you can’t get to them throughout the day. That’s not a fun feeling. I’m trying to lean into more of making somebody’s day by signing something or taking a picture.”
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It’s fascinating the way it’s slowly progressed, so easy to forget that his pre-tournament news conference at the Players Championship in March was filled with countless questions about how unfamous he was, how for whatever reason he didn’t move the needle like other huge stars.
But something happened in the second round of that week. He had won the week before at the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a new putter, and talk increased about how unstoppable he’d be with a better stroke on the greens. Then, that Friday, Scheffler slightly injured his neck, needing massages before each tee shot for several holes. Suddenly, a dozen or so reporters rushed from the media center to catch him on the back nine. It was urgent. It was covered in a way golfers’ injuries are almost never treated. He of course came from behind to win.
His four-shot win at the Masters was treated like an inevitability. He had Tiger-esque odds as a 4-to-1 favorite while constant talk of his coming son hovered over his week. His greatness took on a new tone.
But it was that strange, horrible day in Louisville that took Scheffler across the Rubicon. When Scheffler was thrown against a car and arrested before the second round of the PGA Championship, it was a viral, flashbulb type of moment. By the time he teed off hours after being in a jail cell, fans already had “Free Scottie” T-shirts and bought inmate costumes out of support. They loved him, all because of some freak incident.
How might Scottie Scheffler try to take on the famous Royal Troon bunkers? Find out Live at the Range.https://t.co/0LPQyHprlO@HSBC_UK | #LiveAtTheRange pic.twitter.com/92VGuKMV7u
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 16, 2024
He’s won three more times since that Masters win. When he finished tied for 41st at the U.S. Open in June — his first time outside the top 25 at a major in 2 1/2 years — it was met with concern.
So how does a person who takes such pride in keeping life calm outside of golf handle this new sort of attention? How does he make sure it doesn’t mess with his career?
“I think that’s something that my wife and I are always working on,” Scheffler said. “When we’re at home getting rest, what does it actually look like to be restful? That’s not necessarily sitting there and watching TV. There’s a lot of different things we do to get good quality rest so that, when we come back out on the road and play and do things, I have the energy to compete. I have the energy to — really the social energy to come out and interact with the fans and do this kind of stuff, sit in the media center.”
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This is now the place Scheffler lives, for better or worse. He’s now an ambassador. He’s a celebrity. He has responsibilities and expectations. And sometimes it means strange interactions with strangers recognizing him.
“There’s always some funny ones because I think like sometimes people don’t know exactly what to say, and they can be a bit weird at times,” he said, laughing.
This week at Royal Troon, Scheffler will try to put a cap on a historic year. He has a chance to be the first golfer since Arnold Palmer in 1962 to win seven tournaments by this point in July, and a second major in 2024 would help validate how great he’s been.
So, yes, Scheffler has finally accepted he’s famous. He concedes his life is different and that’s not going away. But do not expect Scheffler to explain why the people love him.
“I couldn’t tell you,” Scheffler said with a smirk. “I guess you’d have to ask them.”
(Top photo: Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)