One year from his first win, Scottie Scheffler says life hasn’t changed

Scottie Scheffler is defending champion this week, something he’ll need to get used to over the next month.

This time last year, the 26-year-old went on an unbelievable run, highlighted by his win at the Masters. However, he’s explained how getting to world No. 1 and winning a green jacket hasn’t transformed his life.

The American was speaking before this week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, an event he won in a playoff last year over Patrick Cantlay.

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“I think it’s definitely been a lot different for me coming out to tournaments and stuff, but I don’t really feel much different than I did sitting here last year,” he said.

“I’m just always trying to get a little bit better, and the golf stuff for me doesn’t change too much; I’m just showing up and trying to do my best. Hopefully that’ll put me in a good spot going into Sunday.”

Big changes since adding a Green Jacket to the wardrobe? For Scottie, not so much. 

“Life on the golf course is a bit different just with more stuff going on. People kind of know who I am now versus a year ago at this tournament. Maybe a few people from the Ryder Cup, but definitely going back to a year and a half ago before that, pretty much nobody.

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“It’s been fun kind of trying to manage that and go from there and find more efficient stuff to do at the golf course with my time just because there’s more that comes with showing up at events. It’s all fun; getting to have fans and people cheering for you is a good time. I’m very grateful for it.”

As for the PGA Tour’s latest innovation of having players wear a mic during their round, Scheffler will take some convincing, and he revealed that he turned down something similar when he was on the Korn Ferry Tour.

“I had the opportunity to do that a couple times when I was on the Korn Ferry Tour and I declined it,” he said. 

“I usually try to do my best to stay in the moment and kind of forget about everything else that’s going on around me, so that would be something I’d have to really think about, which I haven’t done yet, but maybe I will more in the future. I haven’t been approached yet, so I haven’t really had to think about it. Maybe I will now. We’ll see.”