According to Scottie Scheffler nothing matters because “we’re all gonna die.”
The Tuesday afternoon press conferences were pretty morbid with the world’s top two players looking forward to the day of their respective funerals. They did differ on where they would go once they are buried with Scheffler looking towards an afterlife of some description while Rory McIlroy was content with remaining “six feet under.”
Scheffler was in a jovial mood which is a continuation of his recent media appearances. Perhaps his sacrifice of trophies this season has yielded the development of a personality. Of the two pressers between Scheffler and McIlroy, it was Scottie who was the content king today.
Twelve months ago, the American left the assembled media open mouthed in the interview room when he essentially questioned what was the point of anything, casting doubts over his mental psyche and if he was having some sort of psychological crisis.
Today, he handed over the Claret Jug back to the R&A but he has designs on leaving with it again and becoming the first player since Pádraig Harrington in 2008 at Royal Birkdale to successfully defend the Open Championship.
As for last year’s philosophical soul searching episode which dominated his Open build up, Scheffler believes fatigue may have contributed to it as he questioned why he plays golf.
“I’ve played a lot of high-level golf for a few years now,” he said. “Later in the season, I think sometimes you get a little bit more tired.
“I think that’s almost probably why I started going off the rails last year in the press conference.
“I’m like, come on, guys, I’ve just been answering the same questions week in and week out. I don’t know what else to do. I think I’ll try to keep that stuff to myself this week. It’s weird I said that stuff last year.”
Scheffler, is deeply philosophical and puts a lot of emphasis on faith which has played a part in relieving the burden of professional golf from his shoulders and helped reel off his four major championship victories. The two-time Masters champion would be remembered as one of the greats of the game if he decided to retire today but he admits he isn’t playing for legacy or places in history.
“I don’t really play for a place in history. I’m not playing for anything like that because – this is going to sound a little morbid – at the end of the day, I’m going to live my life, and it’s going to end. When it ends, I’m going somewhere else, and I’m not going to be here anymore.
“Is that going to be a quote after last year’s “what’s the point”? This year we’re all going to die,” he laughed.
“I think it matters more to me just in terms of the competition. There’s things I would like to accomplish in the game, but at the end of the day, I have never once thought about how I’m going to be remembered. To me, it truly doesn’t matter from a sense of like accomplishment. Like when I die, hey, Scottie won four majors and 20 tournaments and he won this much money. That has zero effect on me.
“But I’d much rather be remembered for doing things the right way than the guy that won all the tournaments. For me, competition is extremely important. I love being able to go out and compete, but over time I’ve gotten much better at just being able to take your hat off and shake hands.”
Once Scottie exited stage left, McIlroy was in moments later and he too was feeling morbid over thoughts about his own legacy.
“I don’t really care. I would like to think that the people that love and care about me think a certain way of me, but yeah, I’ll be long gone. I’ll be dead. I don’t think I’ll be seeing what people say about me. I’ll be six feet under. I don’t think I’ll be a ghost. I don’t think I’ll be, you know, like — yeah, I don’t care.”
Even the R&A press officer conducting proceedings laughed at the way the afternoon was going.
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