The Scottie Scheffler Paradox

Scottie Scheffler enters the final round of the PGA Championship with a three shot lead over Alex Noren, with Davis Riley, JT Poston trailing by four. Down the leaderboard and just clinging on to contention are Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Tony Finau, and Keegan Bradley.

Had the trailing group been closer to Scottie, the casual fan might find the final round broadcast more compelling. Bryson DeChambeau is a fan favorite who’s YouTube and social media content has elevated him into one of the most compelling personalities in all of sport. Jon Rahm seeks to silence the doubters and re-establish himself as a serious threat in the major championships, and he’s got a fiery personality on the course. Tony Finau has always been loved by many and he’s seeking to get his first major win after a spattering of top 10s over the years, and Keegan Bradley, the US Ryder Cup Captain could play himself into a spot on the team if his strong form continues.

Earlier in the week the week much of the story was around Rory McIlroy and how having just broken his major championship drought at The Masters may open the floodgates, or if Joqauin Niemann could finally put the pieces together in a major.

Not much of the coverage was about Scottie, but regardless of what the topic of conversation was around the PGA Championship, you knew he was the favorite. Any other hypothetical that was being played out, any other scenario that was being written about, they all relied on Scottie not being Scottie.

And outside of the first half of the first round, Scottie has been Scottie all week.

He’s not that close to Tiger Woods’ dominance, but he’s still as close as we’ve seen, and as close as we’re going to see for some time if I had to guess.

So why isn’t it that compelling?

The professional golf viewing experience thrives on volatility. It thrives on a snap hook drive, it thrives on a poor wedge shot finding the water in the most pivotal moment, it thrives on an elite short game player leaving a shot in the bunker (or two, or three). It thrives on elite players chasing down the leader in the final round. Essentially, it thrives on chaos in the most impactful moments.

Scottie Scheffler’s entire golf game is a fortress against such chaos. Some of the other greats in the game aren’t necessarily built like that. Bryson can get squirrely with his approach game, Rory can miss short putts and often struggles with a wedge in his hand, Rahm can struggle off the tee and his putter gets cold.

Scottie… sometimes loses a shot or a shot and a half to the field in putting? But that hasn’t even been the case this year, he’s been fantastic tee to green as always, and now he’s also fantastic on the green. There’s no big miss in his game. It feels to me like the worst possible final round from Scottie is one under, or even par if things go really poorly, and that might not be bad enough for the chasers to catch him. He brings no big miss to the course.

So really what this boils down to is that Scottie’s biggest flaw, the thing that makes him less compelling than many of his peers, is that he’s just got so few flaws. And the flaws he does have are compensated for (and then some) by the rest of his game.

Over the past two decades we’ve been spoiled with incredible storylines. Tiger’s comeback, Rory’s heartbreak, Bryson’s mad-scientist persona… the list goes on.

Scottie offers none of that, and that’s just because he’s that good. He’s got no inner turmoil, he’s got no fiery rivalries, he’s not teetering on the edge of a viral outburst. His narrative is serene competence. His dominance is a paradox in the golf media world, because no individual performance is as captivating as it might be had it been from McIlroy, DeChambeau, Rahm, or many others, but his presence on the leaderboard, and his eventual titles, are undeniable.

Each one of Scotties performances is an unassuming brick added to a monument that, in time, will be in the main hall at the World Golf Hall of Fame.