Before Scottie Scheffler was a four-time major champion.
Before he was a major champion at all.
Before he even captured a PGA Tour title.
Scheffler was locked in a battle with Billy Horschel in the final of the 2021 WGC-Dell Match Play. The 24-year-old Scheffler’s bid for, at the time, his maiden Tour victory ended on Austin Country Club’s 17th hole, where Texas head coach John Fields and his wife, Pearl, were waiting for the former Longhorn standout as he walked off the green. Scheffler gave both a hug, then turned toward a golf cart, where Scheffler’s wife, Meredith, was already sitting on the back seat.
Prior to Scheffler hopping on, however, a group of about 25 kids had arrived with their hands full of flags, hats and other things they were hoping to get signed. Not hesitating, Scheffler obliged.
“He signed whatever they asked for, took a few selfies,” Fields recalled, “and then when he finally got in the golf cart, he put his face in his hands, and he just exploded crying because he was so mad he had just lost the match, and yet, he didn’t let those kids see that.”
Fields can count on one hand the number of players he’s coached who are as competitive as Scheffler. The difference between Scheffler and everyone else is Scheffler’s extraordinary ability to channel that fire, to let it burn but not burn the house down – better than anybody, too. It wasn’t always that way, though it certainly seems as if it was.
“He’s found a way to be very professional, but he also really enjoys people,” Fields added.
At the start of each season, Fields sits his teams down and tries to instill in them the Texas way. Simple things, such as taking your hat off when indoors, or looking people directly in the eyes when shaking their hands while making them feel like they are the most important person in the room. For years, Fields would use Jack Nicklaus as the gold standard for compartmentalizing golf and other aspects of life, being where your feet are, and finding success in the moment. You know, all the things that make one great.
Scheffler is the new standard.
While Scheffler now owns three of the four legs to the career Grand Slam, 17 PGA Tour titles and loads of comparisons to the likes of Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan, he might be lauded more for his titles of husband, father, son and friend. Scheffler’s priorities, he repeated Sunday evening at Royal Portrush, are faith, family and golf, in that order. As much as Scheffler loves golf, and competing, he’d quit it all tomorrow, he says, if it started to negatively affect those first two tenets.
As hard as it can be sometimes, Scheffler strives to live as normal a life off the course as possible. When he got too recognizable at his usual Chipotle north of Dallas, he started driving a little farther to another location, where he wouldn’t get recognized as much.
When Scheffler returned to Austin last fall for Texas’ alumni pro-am, Fields called one of his players, Dallas native Ben DeLaRosa, off the golf so that DeLaRosa could assist Scheffler with what would surely be extreme demands for his time – Fields argues now that Scheffler has “moved a little bit past” fellow Longhorn great and major champ Jordan Spieth, and many of the Texas faithful certainly feel that way as well.
Not that the cerebral Scheffler needed much help; upon arriving at the course, he cleverly draped his Olympic gold medal around Pearl Fields’ neck.
“That helped him because he knew everyone wanted to see that gold medal … and Pearl got to be an Olympian for the day,” John Fields said. “He just finds fun ways to enjoy that moment but not be too overwhelmed by it, and he’s really good about it.”
While Scheffler is undoubtedly a role model for whomever comes through the Texas men’s golf program these days, his impact will soon go beyond that. Fields revealed Monday afternoon that the Schefflers are funding a renovation of the Longhorns’ practice facility at UT Golf Club.
A few years ago, Jordan Spieth helped design and back the construction of the Spieth Lower 40, a six-hole short course at the club. Another Texas alum, Tom Kite, recently redid the team’s chipping area.
Now, future Longhorns – hopefully by next summer – will be able to cut their teeth on a new, state-of-the-art practice range.
The name of it? Scheff’s Kitchen, which is always serving.
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