Scottie Scheffler focusing on Scottish Open, not future

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is in the middle of another sensational season with three wins in his last six events, including his third major at the PGA Championship.

Discussing his ongoing success Wednesday as he prepared for the Genesis Scottish Open, Scheffler talked about the importance of staying out of his own way.

“I try to do my best to live in the present,” Scheffler said. “At the beginning of each year, I don’t really set goals for myself. I have what I would describe as like dreams and aspirations. But day-to-day, I try to be present and try to get a little bit better at a time. I try not to think too far into the future and too far into the past. Just put in the work and see where that takes me.”

Scheffler arrives at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland, having placed within the Top 25 in all 14 of his PGA Tour events this season. That includes his three wins and eight other top-10 finishes.

Scheffler, 29, who hopes to make The Open Championship his fourth major trophy next week at Northern Ireland’s Royal Portrush, said he is happy with his performance since recovering from hand surgery last winter. Happy, but not totally satisfied.

“This game is quite difficult and sometimes it feels like you can perfect it but at the same time you don’t get anywhere close. So, there’s always stuff to work on and always stuff that I can improve on,” he said.

“I think this year, I’ve done a pretty good job mentally of staying patient with myself. … I didn’t get off to the start I was hoping for this year, but I think a lot of that had to do with hand surgery and having to take off the amount of time that I did. You lose a bit of progress physically and when it comes to golf in general.”

Scheffler tied for third in his most recent appearance at the Genesis Scottish Open in July 2023.

He said growing up in Texas helped him deal with some of the conditions of the links courses, but not all of them.

“We grew up in wind off but we didn’t quite play in this type of firmness. I learned from a young age how to flight shots and hit all different types of shots,” Scheffler said.

“When we come over here, everything opens up for us. I get to use all that stuff did I as a kid. You did a lot less thought about positions in your golf swing and stuff like that. It’s less about fundamentals and more figuring out how you’re going to get the ball closer to the hole and all that other stuff washes away.”

–Field Level Media