When Professional Golf Association’s No. 1 ranked player Scottie Scheffler took to Augusta National for the 2024 Masters in mid-April, there was little he could do that would change the weekend’s plans already prepared by his Lord and Saviour.
“I believe that today’s plans were already laid out many years ago,” Scheffler said after coming out on top of golf’s biggest tournament of the season. “And I could do nothing to mess up those plans. I have been given a gift of this talent, and I use it for God’s glory. That’s pretty much it.”
As the ever-popular Jeremiah 29:11 states, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
No, Scheffler didn’t quite reference the verse or even the book in his post-tournament podium time— but he said pretty much everything a faithful believer would without actually pulling out his glasses and reading from the Good Book to the reporters gathered at the media conference.
Who are we kidding…reading glasses? No chance. He might carry himself like a middle-aged veteran of the tour, but Scheffler is only 27 and just joined the PGA Tour in 2020. But he says golf has taken a toll on his body. Admittedly, it has taken considerable amounts of his time and removed him from family, friends and other events, but despite that, he has not let it define who he is as a person and as a man of God.
“Hopefully it doesn’t define me too much, because golf definitely is a selfish sport, because you’re out there by yourself,” Scheffler reflected. “When you’re at the peak of your game, people need stuff from you, and you need to be selfish with your time. And it’s not easy to say ‘no’, but you have to learn how to say ‘no’ to certain people. Because ultimately, when you come out to a golf tournament here, you’re here to compete and do your best, and you can’t really get caught up in all the stuff that’s going on around you.
“I hope it doesn’t define me too much. I feel like I say it a bunch, but golf is something that I do. It is a tremendously huge part of my life, but it doesn’t define me as a person. It’s just something that I do, and I happen to be good at it some weeks…and the next week, I’m bad at it. And that’s just the ebb and flow of competing in front of people all the time.”
Scheffler finished a -11, four strokes ahead of second-place Ludvig Aberg over the four-round spectacle. He hit one eagle and 20 birdies while finishing just 10 of 72 holes over par.
“When I’m out there, I try to compete to the best of my abilities. I really want to win,” Scheffler said. “I feel like that’s how I was designed. I’ve been that way since I was a young kid. That’s always been a part of me, and I don’t think that should be going away anytime soon. I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with that either. But at the end of the day, like I said, my identity is secured already. And I get to come out here, compete, have fun, enjoy it, and then at the end of the day, win or lose, my identity is secure.”
Retaining his title as the world’s best golfer, Scheffler now has two Masters championships to his name and eight career professional victories. He has finished within the top 10 fifty times over his career and seven times this golf season alone. Scheffler earned $3.6 million in winnings at Augusta this April and now has $54 million to his name over his short PGA career.
But it’s not in the money, the victories, or even the golf where Scheffler says his true identity lies.
“I’m a faithful guy. I believe in a Creator. I believe in Jesus. Ultimately, I think that’s what defines me the most,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been given a platform to compete and show my talent—it’s not anything that I did. It’s hard to describe the feeling, but I think what defines me the most is my faith. I believe in one Creator, and I’ve been called to come out here, do my best, compete, and glorify God, and that’s pretty much it.”
While celebrating his second green jacket–emblematic of winning The Masters–Scheffler noticeably did so without his trusty sidekick this time around. His wife, Meredith, was unable to attend the event on doctor’s orders, as she was prohibited from travelling due to her near-term pregnancy. When asked in the early stages of the tournament what would happen if she went into labour, Scheffler simply replied that he would withdraw.
Although his second Masters victory in the past three years will undoubtedly be framed on the mantle, there is a whole lot more at stake for the soon-to-be father.
“Right now, the most exciting thing is not winning the Masters, it’s (the) baby coming pretty soon.”
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