Scottie Scheffler


Scott Alexander Scheffler is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour. He is currently ranked world number one in the Official World Golf Ranking, a position he has held for over 150 weeks. He has won four major championships.
Scheffler had a successful amateur career, including victory at the U.S. Junior Amateur in 2013 and low-amateur honors at the 2017 U.S. Open. Having turned professional in 2018, he was named Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year in 2019 and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year in 2020. He had a breakout season in 2022; in the span of three months, he recorded his first victory on the PGA Tour, rose to world number one, and won his first major championship at the 2022 Masters Tournament. Scheffler won The Players Championship in 2023 and 2024, becoming the first to win the title in back-to-back years. He claimed his second major championship at the 2024 Masters Tournament, and won the gold medal in the men's individual tournament at the 2024 Summer Olympics. Scheffler added his third major at the 2025 PGA Championship and his fourth at the 2025 Open Championship.

Early life and amateur career

Scheffler was born in Ridgewood, New Jersey, on June 21, 1996. His father, Scott, grew up in Englewood Cliffs, and his mother, Diane, grew up in Park Ridge. Scheffler is of Italian descent on his mother's side and German descent on his father's side. His grandfather was a veteran of the U.S. military who served in the Korean War. Scheffler was the only boy among four children. His sisters are named Callie, Molly and Sara. The family lived in Montvale, New Jersey, until Scheffler was aged six, when they moved to Dallas, Texas, in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Scott was a carpenter who became a stay-at-home dad, while Diane worked as a business manager at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and later as a chief operating officer at the law firm Thompson & Knight in Dallas.
Scheffler's interest in golf began at age three, when his parents gave him a set of plastic clubs and ball. He practiced as a child by hitting ping-pong balls inside his home, curving the ball from one room to the next. While living in New Jersey, Scheffler frequently asked his father to take him to the 9W Driving Range in Palisades, New York near the Hudson River. In winter, Scheffler's father shoveled snow from the range to allow him to still practice. After the move to Dallas, his parents borrowed $50,000 to join Royal Oaks Country Club, where Scheffler began to receive tutelage under instructor Randy Smith, who had coached Justin Leonard to a victory at the 1997 Open Championship. At Royal Oaks, Scheffler also learned from professional golfers such as Leonard, Ryan Palmer, Colt Knost, and Harrison Frazar. He watched them as they practiced, and from the age of nine would challenge them to chipping and putting contests. He had prolific success at the youth level, and won 90 of the 136 tournaments he played on the Northern Texas PGA junior circuit, competing against the likes of fellow Dallas-area golfer Will Zalatoris.
Entering high school, Scheffler was barely in height, but experienced a large growth spurt and soon measured over tall. He played golf and basketball at Highland Park High School in the Dallas enclave of University Park. At Highland Park, Scheffler won individual state titles three years in a row, matching a record set by fellow Texan Jordan Spieth. He also had success in AJGA events, and won the 2013 U.S. Junior Amateur, defeating Davis Riley 3 and 2. Scheffler was the top-ranked junior golfer in the country in 2014, and in April 2014 he won the Junior Invitational at Sage Valley. He made his PGA Tour debut in May 2014, as a 17-year-old amateur at the HP Byron Nelson Championship. With his sister Callie caddying for him, he made the cut. He recorded a hole-in-one in the third round and ultimately finished at 4-under-par, in a tie for 22nd place. He was ineligible for the $60,000 payout due to his amateur status.
Scheffler was then recruited to play golf for the Texas Longhorns at the University of Texas at Austin beginning in fall 2014. He won his first individual collegiate title, the Western Intercollegiate held at Pasatiempo Golf Club, in April 2015. Two weeks later, he won the Big 12 Individual Championship held at Southern Hills Country Club. He was named 2015 "Phil Mickelson Freshman of the Year" and Big 12 Newcomer of the Year due to these performances. He struggled with back injuries during his sophomore season, and recorded only one top-10 finish. Texas Longhorns golf coach John Fields said Scheffler was still adapting to his physical growth: "He's gone from 5-foot-2, 100 pounds in eighth grade to almost 6-foot-4, 200 pounds just six years later."
In June 2016, Scheffler qualified for his first U.S. Open. He opened with a first-round 69 and held the overnight clubhouse lead, but shot a second-round 78 to miss the cut by one stroke. He was then selected to represent the United States at the 2016 Eisenhower Trophy in September, and won the East Lake Cup held at East Lake Golf Club in October. Scheffler again qualified for the U.S. Open in 2017, after surviving a 4-for-3 playoff to earn a spot in the field. He and Cameron Champ were the only two amateurs to make the cut at the 2017 U.S. Open. Scheffler finished as low amateur at 1-under-par, one stroke ahead of Champ. He was also part of the U.S. team that won the 2017 Walker Cup, where he defeated Connor Syme in the Sunday singles. Scheffler became a member of the Texas Cowboys in the spring of 2017, and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in finance.

Professional career

2019: Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year

Scheffler turned professional after graduating from college in spring 2018. He began to play in Monday qualifiers but had little success. In December 2018, Scheffler earned his 2019 Web.com Tour card through qualifying school. He finished tied-34th, one shot inside the top 40 cutoff. He got up-and-down to make par on the final hole and secure his playing status. In 2022, Scheffler described this as the most important par save of his career. He said "there's more pressure going into the final round of Q-School than there is Masters Sunday because, if I fail at Q-School, I've got a whole other year where I don't have anywhere to play."
On May 5, 2019, Scheffler shot a final-round 64 to tie for first alongside Robby Shelton at the Nashville Golf Open. Shelton won the ensuing playoff. This was Scheffler's fourth consecutive top-10 finish on the Web.com Tour. Three weeks later, Scheffler fired a bogey-free, 9-under 63—playing the back nine in 30—to force a playoff with 54-hole leader Marcelo Rozo in the Evans Scholars Invitational. He then birdied the second extra hole for his first Web.com Tour victory.
On August 18, 2019, Scheffler won the Nationwide Children's Hospital Championship in Columbus, Ohio. Scheffler shot 4-under 67 in the final round at Ohio State University's Scarlet Course for a two-shot victory. He totaled a 12-under 272 for the week and finished two shots ahead of Brendon Todd, Beau Hossler and Ben Taylor. This event was part of the Korn Ferry Tour Finals. Scheffler led both the Finals points list and the overall points list to earn a fully exempt PGA Tour card for the 2020 season. He was later named Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year.

2020: PGA Tour Rookie of the Year

In his first start of 2020, Scheffler was tied for the lead alongside Andrew Landry after three rounds at The American Express. A final-round 70 saw Scheffler finish third, three shots behind Landry.
During the suspension of the PGA Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Scheffler competed in the Maridoe Samaritan Fund Invitational in April 2020, a tournament organized to raise money for caddies who were unable to work due to the COVID lockdowns. Scheffler shot rounds of 66-74-67 to win the 54-hole event, ahead of Will Zalatoris in second and Viktor Hovland in third, and donated $9,000 to the caddie fund.
In August 2020, Scheffler finished tied for fourth at the 2020 PGA Championship, his first top-10 finish at a major. Two weeks later, Scheffler shot a 12-under 59 at The Northern Trust. His round was the joint second-lowest in PGA Tour history and just the 12th sub-60 round in PGA Tour history.
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Scheffler was one of two rookies, alongside Hovland, to qualify for the Tour Championship in September 2020. Scheffler finished fifth, receiving a $2.5 million payout. He was named the PGA Tour Rookie of the Year for the 2019–20 season.

2021: Ryder Cup debut

Scheffler recorded the first runner-up finish of his PGA Tour career in March at the 2021 WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, held at Austin Country Club. He was defeated by Billy Horschel, 2 and 1, in the final.
At the 2021 Masters Tournament, Scheffler tied for 18th. He then posted top-10 finishes at each of the three other majors: tied-8th at the 2021 PGA Championship, tied-7th at the 2021 U.S. Open, and tied-8th at the 2021 Open Championship.
In September 2021, Scheffler was named as a captain's pick by Steve Stricker for the U.S. team in the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits in Kohler, Wisconsin. The U.S. team won 19–9 and Scheffler went including a win in his Sunday singles match against world number one Jon Rahm.
Later that fall, he switched caddies, replacing Scott McGuinness with Bubba Watson's former caddie, Ted Scott.