Can Scottie Scheffler regain World No.1 title this week?
US golfer Scottie Scheffler had a momentous year in 2022. He won the Masters, received the PGA Player of the Year award, was a part of the winning Presidents Cup team, and reached the world no. 1 spot.
However, in October, he lost the position to Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy. Scheffler had a chance to usurp the place again in the Hero World Challenge, as McIlroy had ended his season early and was not participating. But as things would have it, Scottie Scheffler had to be satisfied with the runner-up spot as Viktor Hovland took home the title.
The situation might be looking up once again for Scottie Scheffler as he has another opportunity to dethrone Rory McIlroy and win back his world no. 1 spot. McIlroy will feature in the DP World Tour events and begin his season later. His absence from the tournaments this month boosts the chances of Scheffler propelling himself to the world no. 1 spot.
Scheffler is currently competing in The American Express tournament. And the current world no. 2 will bounce back to the numero uno spot if he wins this event.
However, he is only focusing on the tournament and not what a win would mean in terms of ranking, as he told Golf Week.
"No, I’m focused on trying to put myself in position to win the tournament. I have no idea what a finish or win would do for me in the world ranking. I haven’t checked in a while, but I know I’m still No. 2 and No. 1 is better than No. 2. I don’t focus too much on that stuff. For me, it’s always best to stay present and continue to work on the things that I’ve been working on for many, many years."
"It's just little things here and there" - Scottie Scheffler
Although Scottie Scheffler has had a phenomenal 2022 season, he is naturally still looking for improvement in 2023. He talked about it in a pre-tournament press conference for The American Express.
"Yeah, I feel like I’ve improved a lot since this point last year. I feel like I’ve added new things to my game, and I’m continuing to improve at certain aspects that I’ve been working on. I’ve seen some results now, which is exciting."
He is focusing on honing his skills, and it seems he has overcome the mental hurdles.
"It’s just fine-tuning stuff, so I guess you could say it’s physical. Just trying to become more consistent I would say is probably the biggest thing."
Recently, many coach-player duos have brought high-end analytics into their off-season workouts. However, Scottie Scheffler and his coach Randy Smith aren't huge fans of the practice. While the golfer doesn't dismiss them altogether, he believes his intuition generally aligns with the metrics.
"Most of the time the stuff that he sees and the stuff that I feel tends to align with statistics. So when we come back from events and kind of reflecting on a full season there’s certain stuff that we already kind of know that we’re going to work on."
The star golfer further explained what exactly they look at and check when taking the help of analytics.
"Some years Randy (Smith, coach) will look in the stats. Other years I’ll look into the stats. We’re not super organized with it. But we always have kind of an understanding of where we’re at. We’re definitely not looking at fairway statistics and which side I miss more often. If I miss more left or if I miss more right, stuff like that. It’s just little things here and there."
Scheffler feels good about where his game is at this point and looks confident to begin his campaign at The American Express tournament that starts on January 19, 2023.
"Yeah, I feel like I’ve been playing solid recently. Hitting it really nice and making some putts. So hopefully this week I’ll hit it a little bit better and make a few more putts and be there toward the end and hopefully get a win. But my game feels like it’s in a good spot, trending in a right direction and starting to see some results which is fun."
He also took a moment to reflect on his "fun" 2022 season but not before quickly snapping back to the present.
"I know I was having fun. I reflected a little bit, but I don’t focus too much on the past or the future, just try to stay in the present and keep working at it."
Indeed, it will be interesting to see if Scottie Scheffler manages to dethrone Rory McIlroy and take back the world no. 1 spot. It is always fun to see the rankings be shaken a little bit.