ATLANTA, GEORGIA | It was Sunday, Nov. 15, 2020, and in the COVID-altered world, the final round of the only fall Masters tournament was being played with almost no one on site other than the players and a select few observers who felt like they had the game’s most famous tournament to themselves.
Sitting 11 shots behind eventual winner Dustin Johnson, Scottie Scheffler found himself paired with Tiger Woods for the only time in his PGA Tour career. Scheffler was in his second full year on the tour and, unaware of it at the time, about to have the arc of his career altered.
“We’re in 20th place or whatever going into Sunday at the Masters, Tiger has won five Masters, he’s got no chance of winning the tournament. Then we showed up on the first hole and I was watching him read his putt, and I was like, oh, my gosh, this guy is in it right now,” Scheffler said.
“I can’t tell you the look on his face when we got to the first green, and I look over … and this guy is just locked in, and I was taken aback. I was like, holy smokes. Then we got to the second hole, and he had this chip shot and he looked at it like it was an up-and-down to win the tournament. I’m like, this is incredible. I’ve never seen anything like this before in my life.”
Still growing into the PGA Tour, Scheffler said he sometimes “eased” his way into tournaments. There is a truism that a shot on Thursday counts just as much as one on the final nine holes on Sunday and Scheffler always understood that.
But watching Woods up close, even though he had no chance of winning, was revelatory. Scheffler has always been grounded in his swing fundamentals but watching the master at work – at the Masters – led Scheffler to re-evaluate his approach.
“That was something that I just thought about for a long time. I felt like a change I needed to make was bringing that same intensity to each round and each shot,” Scheffler said.
“I feel like the reason I’ve had success in these tournaments is – I don’t hit the ball the furthest. The things that I do on the golf course, other people can do. I think it’s just the amount of consistency and the intensity that I bring to each round of golf is not taking shots off, not taking rounds off, not taking tournaments off.
“When I show up at a tournament, I’m here for a purpose and that’s to compete hard, and you compete hard on every shot. I think it’s a lot easier said than done, and I think I’ve been in a good head space the last couple years where I’ve been able to stand up over a ball and focus on what I’m doing and just try and pull it off.”
There is an addendum – two of them actually – to Scheffler’s Tiger moment.
“If I’m going to take a week off, I might as well just stay home. … If I’m playing in a tournament, I’m going to give it my all.” – Scottie Scheffler
That was the Sunday when Woods made a 10 on the par-3 12th hole when he hit three balls into Rae’s Creek. It was startling to see the five-time Masters champion, the defending champion that week, make such a mess. There had been times when it seemed Woods could have walked across Rae’s Creek but that Sunday, he had trouble getting his tee shot across it.
From there, Woods closed with five birdies in his last six holes, a Sunday 76 sprinkled with diamonds and rust.
“It was like, what’s this guy still playing for? He’s won the Masters four or five times. Best finish he’s going to have is like 20th place at this point,” Scheffler said.
“I just admired the intensity that he brought to each round, and that’s something that I try to emulate. If I’m going to take time to come out here each week – like it’s not an easy thing to play a golf tournament. If I’m going to take a week off, I might as well just stay home. I’m not going to come out here to take a week off. If I’m playing in a tournament, I’m going to give it my all.”
Here’s the second part: While playing with Woods, Scheffler took a peek into his golf bag and was struck by the irons he was using. Scheffler had TaylorMade make him a set – they’re the P7TW model – and he’s been using them ever since, getting them checked weekly to make sure his specs are dialed in.
As Scheffler tries to become the first player to win consecutive FedEx Cups this week at the Tour Championship and add to his five-win season, which includes two major championships, the comparisons to Woods have increased.
What Scheffler has done – 18 wins including four majors since the start of 2022 – remains a relatively small sample size compared to Woods’ 82 tour wins and 15 majors, but the level of Scheffler’s dominance and separation from his competitors has prompted the analogies.
Not that Scheffler is listening to the noise.
“I think in the simplest form, I think it’s very silly to be compared to Tiger Woods. I think Tiger is a guy that stands alone in the game of golf, and I think he always will. Tiger inspired a whole generation of golfers. You’ve grown up watching that guy do what he did week in, week out, it was pretty amazing to see,” Scheffler said.
“I talk about a mental change I made because I played one round of golf with him in a tournament. I’ve only played one round of tournament golf with Tiger Woods, and it completely changed the way I look at how I play tournaments.
“I don’t even like comparisons to other players because I think when we come out here, I’m doing the best I can to be the best version of myself. I don’t think about legacy, I don’t think about the past. I try to get the most out of myself each week.
“I just don’t really love the comparisons at all.”