Get to know Scottie Scheffler: Can his historic run continue at Paris 2024?
Over the last two years, Scottie Scheffler has rapidly ascended.
He has become arguably the best golfer in the world, winning two Masters' green jackets on his way to the pinnacle of the sport. The 27-year-old has etched his name in history with his recent PGA successes and he hopes to have an opportunity to add an Olympic medal to his resume as he closes in on Paris 2024.
Xander Schauffele took home gold for Team USA at Tokyo 2020, now Scheffler is looking to carry the torch forward for the United States in what would be his Olympic debut in Paris.
“It'd be a nice little thing to be able to trash talk my buddies about when they say golfers aren't athletes, and I can claim I'm an Olympian,” Scheffler said in an interview with USA Today.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Scottie Scheffler after winning the 2024 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on 14 April
Scottie Scheffler’s beginnings
Scheffler was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey before moving to Dallas, Texas at the age of six. This is where his passion for golf began to blossom, eventually winning 75 events on the PGA junior circuit.
He continued his development on the course at Highland Park High School, winning three consecutive individual state titles from 2012 to 2014, tying a record previously set by Jordan Spieth. Scheffler was named the top-ranked junior player in the nation in 2014 leading to his PGA Tour debut that May as a 17-year-old amateur.
Playing collegiately at the University of Texas from 2014 through 2018, Scheffler helped lead the Longhorns to three Big 12 Championships and was named the conference’s 2015 Freshman of the Year.
Scottie Scheffler at the Final round of the 2016 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship
Scottie Scheffler turns professional
Schefller turned professional in 2018 and played his way onto the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019. He would go on to lead the tour’s playoffs in points, earning a spot on the PGA Tour in 2020 while winning the Korn Ferry Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year awards.
Quickly introducing himself to the PGA Tour, he earned Rookie of the Year honors including shooting a 12-under 59 at the Northern Trust on 21 August, 2020. This round was tied for the second-lowest score in PGA Tour history.
Scheffler reached No. 1 on the Official World Golf Rankings in March of 2022 and has not relinquished the spot since. In April of 2022, he won the Masters Tournament by three strokes, capturing his first major title and dawning the green jacket for the first time.
During that season he appeared in 23 PGA Tour events, posting the lowest average score per round (68.3) of any golfer in competition. While he only won two of these events, Scheffler finished top-10 17 times and earned over $21 million in earnings.
Scottie Scheffler, 09 August, 2020 PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park
Scottie Scheffler’s dominant 2024
Halfway through 2024, he has entered a new stratosphere. Scheffler has won five of the 13 events he has competed in thus far and finished top 10 in all but one appearance. He has also dropped his average score down to 67.7 and has already amassed $24.02 million in earnings. This total shattered the PGA tour record for earnings in a season, which he set last season.
He most recently won the Memorial Tournament on 9 June, despite shooting his highest final round (74) in two years, to eke out a one-stroke victory. To make the moment even sweeter, Scheffler was able to share it with his month-old son Bennett who was attending his first PGA Tour event.
"This is a tough place to close out," Scheffler told reporters following his Memorial win. "I didn't do a whole lot great today, but I did enough."
Scottie Scheffler, 09 June, Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio
Scottie Scheffler is making history
Scheffler’s 2024 run has not only been dominant, it's been historic. He is the first player with five wins in a season overall since Justin Thomas in 2016-17 and his streak of 11 consecutive top-10 finishes on tour is the longest streak since Tiger Woods’ 11 from 2007-08.
His five wins this season are tied for most before the end of June in the past 60 seasons on tour and, following his most recent victory, he is one of two golfers to have won the Memorial, PLAYERS Championship and Masters in the same year. The other is Woods.
Scheffler also became the first player ever to win back-to-back PLAYERS Championships taking home the trophy in 2023 and 2024.
“Just because I got to No. 1 in the world doesn’t mean I’m going to stop working,” he said in an interview with Golfweek. “I don’t always want to go back in the gym and work out. I’d much rather sit on the couch and hold my son and hang out with my wife (Meredith), but I feel I’m called to do this to the best of my ability, so I go back there and put in some work.”
Scottie Scheffler, 17 March posing with THE PLAYERS Championship trophy
What’s next for Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler will be playing in the US Open, one of the PGA Tour’s four major events, from 13-16 June in Pinehurst, North Carolina. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the tournament.
While the United States roster for golf at Paris 2024 has not been made official yet, the 27-year-old is widely tipped to be the face of the team. The top 15 players on the Official World Golf Rankings are eligible for the Games with a maximum of four golfers from a single country. As of 12 June, Scheffler is the highest-ranked Olympic player.
Golf at Paris 2024 will take place from Thursday 1 August through Saturday 10 August.