Something about the Open Championship seems to bring out the philosopher in Scottie Scheffler. Last year the world’s best golfer questioned the meaning of life before claiming his fourth major title. This year, though, it was his legacy that was more on his mind.
Scheffler was in an ebullient mood, despite missing his first cut in 79 tournaments at the Scottish Open last week. So when talk turned to his comments at Portrush – when he famously asked ‘What is the point of it all?’ – he couldn’t help but smile when he found himself saying “at the end of the day I am going to live my life and it’s going to end” this time around.
“Is that going to be a quote after last year’s ‘what’s the point?’ Scheffler queried. “This year we’re all going to die.”
Once the laughs had subsided, Scheffler made a more serious point about why he didn’t really care about his legacy – or how many titles he could win.
“I have never once thought about how I’m going to be remembered,” he said. “To me, it truly doesn’t matter from a sense of accomplishment. Like when I die, ‘hey, Scottie won four majors and 20 tournaments and he won this much money’. That has zero effect on me.
“History to me isn’t that important,” he added. “I don’t necessarily want to be remembered for winning the tournaments that I won. I’d much rather be remembered for the way that I did it: doing things the right way, treating people the right way.”
“Some of my best friends in the world I met through playing golf. When I was young, I took myself a bit too seriously. I’ve gotten better as I’ve gotten older of letting the competition be the competition, and when you’re done, take your hat off and shake hands and we’re on to the next week. History for me has never been the most important thing.”
And while Scheffler has sometimes cut a frustrated figure on the course this season, having won only one event, he insists his mind is at peace as he aims to retain the Claret Jug.
“I guess the point for me was figuring out your ‘why’,” he explained. “Why am I doing this? Why do I want to win this tournament so badly? Why do I choose to play this sport for a living? I think that’s when I’m at peace the most.”
Scheffler’s comments were echoed by Rory McIlroy when he was asked how he wanted to be remembered in 100 years’ time.
“I don’t really care,” came the reply. “I would like to think that the people that love and care about me think a certain way of me, but yeah, I’ll be long gone. I’ll be dead.
“I don’t think I’ll be seeing what people say about me,” he added. “I’ll be six feet under. I don’t think I’ll be a ghost. I don’t think I’ll be, you know, like – yeah, I don’t care.”
McIlroy is the second favourite to win his seventh major title but he insisted that he no longer had a one-track mind when it came to his legacy.
“I think it would be a pretty 11fulfilling pursuit if you’re just chasing records and chasing results,” he added. “You have to enjoy the process. You have to enjoy the journey to get there. I’ve learned that the hard way at times by chasing results and chasing records too much.”
