The best golfer in the world didn’t sound locked-in to win another major championship.
“This is not a fulfilling life,” Scottie Scheffler said before the (British) Open Championship last week at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland. “It’s fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it’s not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.”
So what does fulfill Scheffler?
“I would say my greatest priorities are my faith and my family” said the outspokenly Christian golfer, after the winning his fourth career major on Sunday. “Those come first for me. Golf is third in that order. I’ve said it for a long time, golf is not how I identify myself. I don’t identify myself by winning tournaments, chasing trophies, being famous or whatever it is.”
His fellow competitors have taken notice.
“He’s a very worthy winner, but also he’s a great person and I think he’s a wonderful ambassador for our game as well,” said Rory McIlroy, who completed the career slam by winning the Masters in April. “I’m really happy for him and [his wife] Meredith and his family.”
“I love being a father. I love being able to take care of my son. I love being able to provide for my family out here playing golf,” Scheffler said. “I’m blessed to be able to come out here and play golf. But if my golf ever started affecting my home life. If it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife, with my son. That’s gonna be the last day I play out here for a living.”
“Faith is obviously a huge part of what I do. The reason I go and play golf every week,” Scheffer said on another occasion. “I feel like we’ve been given a skill. To play golf pretty well. And use it to glorify God.”
Keeping faith and family first, Scheffler says, has made him a better golfer.
“I’ve gotten significantly better over the years at handling failure,” he said. “I don’t place my value in golf. It’s kind of a tough balance because I spend so much of my time trying to improve and to be good at this game.
“You’ve really got to look at the motivation for why I play,” he added. “For me, I have a relationship with Jesus Christ. That’s why I play golf. I’m out here to compete because that’s where he wants me. He’s in control of what happens in the end. So just really staying the course and staying faithful and letting him be the guidance for me versus anything that I do.”
Scheffler made similar comments after capturing the PGA Championship in May.
“And so, my faith is such an important part of my golf game because it’s not only an important part of my life but it’s what helps me kind of realize that it’s not that big of a deal,” he said. “I’m called to compete; I’m not called to go win every single golf tournament. Do I want to win every single golf tournament? Of course. But at the end of the day, that’s not what’s gonna satisfy my soul.”