"He’s very, very special" - Scottie Scheffler's agents reveal how the 8-year-old became their star find
Scottie Scheffler is in Dallas this week for the AT&T Byron Nelson. When he was eight, his family relocated to the city as her mother, Diane, got a COO job offer at the Dallas law firm Thompson & Knight.
Randy Smith noticed Scheffler when the latter visited Royal Oaks Country Club for the first time. Smith had been Justin Leonard's coach who won the British Open title in 1997.
Scheffler also met golf agent Rocky Hambric. Hambric has been associated with several names starting from the World Golf Hall of Fame, Larry Nelson to the likes of Corey Pavin, Dustin Johnson, and Brooks Koepka.
Humbric got close to the whole family, having Sunday lunch for the following 10 years. He was quoted via Golf Week:
"Unlike a lot of parents that I come into contact with, Scott (Scottie's dad) was a lot more realistic about how much he knew about what it took to be a great pro."
"I think in Scott’s case it was always the other way which I really think gave him a leg up on a lot of kids. It was never his parent’s desire. It was always Scottie."
Hambric added that despite all the achievements by Scottie Scheffler at the junior level, they still had a fair share of doubts.
"His dad used to ask me all the time, 'Are you sure, Rocky? Are you sure he’s good enough? This isn’t going to end in some tremendous disappointment, is it?'" Hambric said as per GolfWeek.
"I’d say, ‘Calm down, Scott, he’s good enough. He’s very, very special. Just help him grow up as normal as he possibly can and there’s no way this can mess up.’ And that’s exactly what they did," he added.
"This week is a good prep week for me," - says Scottie Scheffler ahead of the 2020 AT&T Byron Nelson
Traditionally, AT&T Byron Nelson is a warm-up event for the PGA Championship, the second major of the year. Scheffler who is returning to action since RBC Heritage said he is excited to be back 'home'.
"Just trying to gear up, he added. "This week is a good prep week for me. It's nice to be at home and get to play some tournament golf, and I'm excited to be here at the Nelson. It's a tournament that I always play in and it's a lot of fun playing in front of the home crowd."
"It would certainly be a lot of fun(to play in front of home crowd), that's for sure. Like I said earlier, this tournament is special to me, getting to play in high school. I have very special memories of this tournament," he continued.
The World No. 2 golfer is paired alongside Jason Day, and K.H. Lee and will tee up at 1:44 pm EST on Thursday, May 11.