‘This is not a fulfilling life,’ says world number one Scheffler

Scottie Scheffler may have won three majors and an Olympic gold medal in his career but the 29-year-old started his Open Championship week by questioning why he even plays the sport.

The American won this year’s US PGA Championship to add to his two Masters titles and victory at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

He has been world number one for 112 consecutive weeks and has earned more than £65m in prize money on the PGA Tour but these are not figures that Scheffler wishes to dwell on.

“This is not a fulfilling life,” he said.

“It’s fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment but it’s not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart.

“There are a lot of people that make it to what they thought was going to fulfil them in life, and you get there, you get to number one in the world, and they’re like, ‘what’s the point?’

His wife Meredith gave birth to their son Bennett 14 months ago and Scheffler said if golf started to impact his family he would quit the sport.

“I’m blessed to be able play golf, but if my golf ever started affecting my home life or it ever affected the relationship I have with my wife or my son, that’s going to be the last day that I play out here for a living,” he added.

“This is not the be-all and end-all. This is not the most important thing in my life. That’s why I wrestle with, why is this so important to me?

“Because I’d much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer. That’s what’s more important to me.”

Scheffler has won three times this year, has one runner-up finish and eight other top-10s in 15 events.

He has not finished outside the top 25 this season, not missed a cut since the FedEx St Jude Classic in August 2022.

“Showing up at the Masters every year it’s like, ‘Why do I want to win this golf tournament so badly? Why do I want to win The Open Championship so badly?'” he said.

“I don’t know because if I win it’s going to be awesome for two minutes, then we’re going to get to the next week and it’s, ‘hey, you won two majors this year; how important is it for you to win the FedEx Cup play-offs?’