One of the game’s curiosities is that Scottie Scheffler is still only 27 which makes him younger than Matt Fitzpatrick, while Jordan Spieth, who will be 30 in nine days, looks relatively ancient.
Scheffler’s first taste of links golf came just two years ago when he was 12th at the Scottish Open where his second competitive round on seaside turf was an eight-under 63. A week later he finished 8th at The Open at Royal St George’s where he and Jon Rahm were paired together on the Sunday in the third last group out.
It’s little wonder, then, that he’s already built an affinity to golf in its oldest form.
“I really like it, you can be extremely creative. Basically around this course if you just avoid the bunkers you can do whatever you want, but any time you’re in a bunker, I mean, it’s pretty much a stroke penalty they way the bunkers are shaped this week.
“I play Renaissance each year and it’s very fun, and then we get to the Open and then I start getting really used to links golf and I just want to play a lot more of it, and I get a little sad that I’ve got to be done with it until next July,” explains the World No. 1.
The last time The Open was at Royal Liverpool in 2014 he was preparing himself for four years at the University of Texas; as for the 2006 Open, Scheffler’s knowledge of Tiger Woods’ iconic win has come via YouTube.
“I don’t really remember watching it. A lot of my Tiger memories are all on YouTube. I really do get a lot of value out of watching that kind of stuff and I did watch his win here on YouTube. It’s a pretty valuable tool, you get to watch so much cool stuff. Most of my young memories of Tiger are just watching him win a lot and seeing him make all the putts, whether it was here at The Open or the putt at Torrey always stands out.”
This week is Scheffler’s first look at Royal Liverpool but he has revisited the ’06 victory online ahead of his visit to the North West to get a few pointers.
“Yeah, just to see the course. I had never seen this course before. I didn’t really know anything about it, other than the fact that it was really firm and he only hit one driver for the entire week. Anytime I’m coming to a new course, I try to learn something about it before I get there versus just coming in blind. It really is a valuable tool for me.”
Now he’s seen it in the flesh there is one very clear takeaway.
“Anytime my ball is going towards a bunker I’m very nervous. I’m just going to try and avoid the bunkers at all…
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