Is Scottie sinister?

[mardukes]

From GolfWRX: 

“Does Scheffler still go 5-under for his last 11 holes if Collin Morikawa isn’t making double bogeys at Nos. 9 and 11? Does the world No. 1 play differently if Ludvig Åberg doesn’t find the pond left of 11 and make double? Does the eventual winner think more about the weight of history and a second Masters title in three years if Max Homa doesn’t venture into the shrubbery behind 12 and also make double?”

I think it's kind of the opposite.  I remember some baseball color commentator saying if one hits a homer with the bases loaded he has released the pressure on the pitcher.  Now that's great if it's the bottom of the ninth and your team needs 3 runs.  However, if it's around the turn on Sunday at the Masters, it might be better to keep dangling that bait on the edge of the cliff so that ones fellow competitors might tumble over the edge.

Maybe Scottie played them into two splashes and a shot just long enough to hit the downslope and kick hard into the ground cover.  Because then two or three birdies crushes all hope; let's just finish out protecting our paychecks.  It's funny how a couple of spectacular approach shots materialize out of nowhere at exactly the right time.

What did J.R. say, at the poker table always get caught early trying to bluff...

 

PS- commentators comment, competitors compete.  commentating is as much a fake word as competating.

Edited April 16 by mardukes

[NubianRugby]

Scheffler plays a very conservative game, especially when he's ahead. He plays within himself, doesn't try to make the hero shots, and keeps the pressure on those chasing him. It's that simple.

Morikawa, et al were pressing, trying to catch the world's #1 player and couldn't make it happen. 

[Middler]

8 minutes ago, NubianRugby said:

Scheffler plays a very conservative game, especially when he's ahead. He plays within himself, doesn't try to make the hero shots, and keeps the pressure on those chasing him. It's that simple.

Morikawa, et al were pressing, trying to catch the world's #1 player and couldn't make it happen. 

+1. Scheffler is very competitive, but sinister is an inapt description if you've listened to his press conferences. His course management is as good as anyone, he's just got more weapons than anyone else now that he can putt again. He probably worries less about competitors than most players, he plays his own game. He seems to be pretty unflappable, reacting to good shots the same as bad shots for the most part. A skill we can all use.

Edited April 16 by Middler

[cnosil]

IMO, comes down to the mental game.   All the PGA players have exceptional talent but the mental course management mistakes are where they tend to falter.   Morikawa and a few others in their post round interview said they got too aggressive and tried to force things.   I think Scheffler is just able to maintain the same mental presence no matter where he is on the leaderboard and continue to play a fundamentally sound course management strategy.   

[RickyBobby_PR]

Scottie leads in all the important strokes gained category. He is the best golfer right now. He understands his game, what he wants to do and what not to do on the course. He doesn’t let what’s happening around him influence his decisions.

He couldn’t get to conservative because that opens the door for mistakes to happen on his part. They have a strategy for each hole and they stuck to it.

golf comes down to who can execute the game plan the best 

[Stuka44]

He is a very good player, the best at this moment in time.  VERY deliberate, and as stated reacts to good shots the same way as bad ones(which is not at all).  And unfortunately, not to bash on the #1 player in the world, but on Monday speaking of the tournament with others who play, I was not really surprised when all 3 of them  also indicated they had turned it off with 4-5 holes to go, because Scheffler is like watching paint dry.

I know many(golf swing technical evaluators, who perhaps find it thrilling to watch) will ardently disagree with me, but I don't necessarily view it as a good thing that   the "snooze fest", that is watching Scottie Scheffler play golf, keep occurring on a regular basis. 

I'm not proud of this.... BUT

I was actually hoping for him to have to leave for his pregnant wife the whole final round.  He was just too.... "Impressively Boring" to keep my interest.

[StrokerAce]

I really don't even understand this comment - maybe that's why I don't frequent golfwrx? ...

He hits the shots in front of him and plays his game and doesn't worry about what's going on around him. That's what makes him so good. He's Tiger-esque that way. He can just tune out the noise. If other players want to chase, that's fine, if they don't, so be it. If you watched the press conference afterwards he explained all of this. He didn't lay up on 13 or 15. 

I wonder if everyone thought it was boring when Tiger was winning by huge margins? Seems like they left the tv on, rather than turn it off.

[fixyurdivot]

36 minutes ago, StrokerAce said:

I really don't even understand this comment - maybe that's why I don't frequent golfwrx? ...

He hits the shots in front of him and plays his game and doesn't worry about what's going on around him. That's what makes him so good. He's Tiger-esque that way. He can just tune out the noise. If other players want to chase, that's fine, if they don't, so be it. If you watched the press conference afterwards he explained all of this. He didn't lay up on 13 or 15. 

I wonder if everyone thought it was boring when Tiger was winning by huge margins? Seems like they left the tv on, rather than turn it off.

Yes, I fail to see/make the "sinister" connection/question.  Like many players at this level, they either learn to master the 8 inches between their ears or remain perpetual chasers.  Presently, Scheffler seems to have mastered that part and shot making.

[mardukes]

1 hour ago, fixyurdivot said:

Yes, I fail to see/make the "sinister" connection/question.  Like many players at this level, they either learn to master the 8 inches between their ears or remain perpetual chasers.  Presently, Scheffler seems to have mastered that part and shot making.

OR the third option, taking it up a notch to actually getting into their fellow competitors' heads.  Sinister might not be the exact word, but wily or tactical don't quite get there.  Does he just slam the door or also push them outside first?  (Oh, guys, look my neck hurts!) 

[ShimmyCocoBop]

Scheffler is a plodder (not a plonker  ) who has great technical, mental, emotional and planning skills, very much like Jack Nicklaus.

Unlike others, he rarely beats himself.  

Of course, we were saying that about Jordan Spieth, Colin Morikawa. Rory Mcllroy, Jon Rahm, Brooks Kopek, Cam Smith and Justin Thomas not too long ago.

The media is always in a hurry to coronate a new King!

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, mardukes said:

OR the third option, taking it up a notch to actually getting into their fellow competitors' heads.  Sinister might not be the exact word, but wily or tactical don't quite get there.  Does he just slam the door or also push them outside first?  (Oh, guys, look my neck hurts!) 

Makes no sense.

32 minutes ago, ShimmyCocoBop said:

Scheffler is a plodder (not a plonker  ) who has great technical, mental, emotional and planning skills, very much like Jack Nicklaus.

Unlike others, he rarely beats himself.  

Of course, we were saying that about Jordan Spieth, Colin Morikawa. Rory Mcllroy, Jon Rahm, Brooks Kopek, Cam Smith and Justin Thomas not too long ago.

The media is always in a hurry to coronate a new King!

Well he actually would beat himself due to his putting. Now that he’s switched putters his strokes gained has gone way up and he will rarely beat himself now

[Middler]

4 hours ago, fixyurdivot said:

Yes, I fail to see/make the "sinister" connection/question.  Like many players at this level, they either learn to master the 8 inches between their ears or remain perpetual chasers.  Presently, Scheffler seems to have mastered that part and shot making.

All sports are littered with hard working people with great skills who just didn’t win commensurate with their physical gifts. In golf, Greg Norman was a clear example, and he still hasn’t mastered those 8 inches. 

Edited April 16 by Middler

[RickyBobby_PR]

9 hours ago, mardukes said:

Maybe Scottie played them into two splashes and a shot just long enough to hit the downslope and kick hard into the ground cover.  Because then two or three birdies crushes all hope; let's just finish out protecting our paychecks.  It's funny how a couple of spectacular approach shots materialize out of nowhere at exactly the right time.

The guys behind Scottie weren’t just on cruise control near the end. They don’t want to split prize money if they can finish solo 2nd or 3rd. Plus there are still FedEx points that can be awarded by finishing solo second. 
 

 

[mardukes]

Again, GolfWRX (maybe not as chaste as y'all imagine):

Ben Hoggard for Golf Channel…Scottie Scheffler’s victory celebrations are notably low-key, which makes his post-Masters victory lap noteworthy.

Scheffler made a late-night detour to a Dallas dive bar called Inwood Tavern early Monday morning following his second consecutive triumph at Augusta National.

"I don’t really frequent that place very often. I don’t know if I’d actually been to that place before. There was another tavern around the corner that I’d been to a few times and it’s a nice place but shockingly it wasn’t open Sunday at 1:30 in the morning. This place [Inwood Tavern] was open,” Scheffler said on Wednesday at the RBC Heritage. “On the plane ride home I was with my manager Blake [Smith] and my coach Randy [Smith] and then I had four of my good buddies with me, I don’t remember who suggested it, but it seemed like a good idea.”

[StrokerAce]

19 minutes ago, mardukes said:

Again, GolfWRX (maybe not as chaste as y'all imagine):

Ben Hoggard for Golf Channel…Scottie Scheffler’s victory celebrations are notably low-key, which makes his post-Masters victory lap noteworthy.

Scheffler made a late-night detour to a Dallas dive bar called Inwood Tavern early Monday morning following his second consecutive triumph at Augusta National.

"I don’t really frequent that place very often. I don’t know if I’d actually been to that place before. There was another tavern around the corner that I’d been to a few times and it’s a nice place but shockingly it wasn’t open Sunday at 1:30 in the morning. This place [Inwood Tavern] was open,” Scheffler said on Wednesday at the RBC Heritage. “On the plane ride home I was with my manager Blake [Smith] and my coach Randy [Smith] and then I had four of my good buddies with me, I don’t remember who suggested it, but it seemed like a good idea.”

 does this make him "sinister" ??? 

[Hook DeLoft]

On 4/16/2024 at 3:42 PM, ShimmyCocoBop said:

Scheffler is a plodder (not a plonker  ) who has great technical, mental, emotional and planning skills, very much like Jack Nicklaus.

Unlike others, he rarely beats himself.  

Of course, we were saying that about Jordan Spieth, Colin Morikawa. Rory Mcllroy, Jon Rahm, Brooks Kopek, Cam Smith and Justin Thomas not too long ago.

The media is always in a hurry to coronate a new King!

I agree.  He most reminds me of Nicklaus, but that is now.  In 3 years he may still be great or he may have fallen off the planet.  It’s just hard to predict.  Unlike someone posted above, I enjoy watching him play.  I don’t need fist pumps to find excellence fascinating. 

[mardukes]

35 minutes ago, StrokerAce said:

 does this make him "sinister" ??? 

I think it makes him a golfer with a killer instinct/design rather than an angel blessed with a game -- though it is certain he is both!!!

[StrokerAce]

4 minutes ago, mardukes said:

I think it makes him a golfer with a killer instinct/design rather than an angel blessed with a game -- though it is certain he is both!!!

I gotta say, this is the most bizarre take I've heard in a long time.

He said in his presser that he absolutely hates to lose, more so than winning. If you look at other professional athletes that have that same mindset, there's your "killer instinct", but if that makes you 'sinister', I don't know what to say....

[mardukes]

7 minutes ago, StrokerAce said:

I gotta say, this is the most bizarre take I've heard in a long time.

He said in his presser that he absolutely hates to lose, more so than winning. If you look at other professional athletes that have that same mindset, there's your "killer instinct", but if that makes you 'sinister', I don't know what to say....

and yet you said it...

It's hyperbole!!

[RickyBobby_PR]

1 hour ago, mardukes said:

Again, GolfWRX (maybe not as chaste as y'all imagine):

Ben Hoggard for Golf Channel…Scottie Scheffler’s victory celebrations are notably low-key, which makes his post-Masters victory lap noteworthy.

Scheffler made a late-night detour to a Dallas dive bar called Inwood Tavern early Monday morning following his second consecutive triumph at Augusta National.

"I don’t really frequent that place very often. I don’t know if I’d actually been to that place before. There was another tavern around the corner that I’d been to a few times and it’s a nice place but shockingly it wasn’t open Sunday at 1:30 in the morning. This place [Inwood Tavern] was open,” Scheffler said on Wednesday at the RBC Heritage. “On the plane ride home I was with my manager Blake [Smith] and my coach Randy [Smith] and then I had four of my good buddies with me, I don’t remember who suggested it, but it seemed like a good idea.”

The point? 

[mardukes]

29 minutes ago, RickyBobby_PR said:

The point? 

I see him being painted by the imbecilic sports journalists as some sort of fringe character.  I could be imagining it, but to make the case is a cultural discussion that would be frowned upon by MGS authorities who would label it "political".

Sinister?  Scottie is just as much a killer at the moment as Tiger, Faldo, Mickelson, Nicklaus, Miller, Hogan... (Spieth when he was actually winning something.)

He is certainly blessed, but not just lucky.  As the commodity traders on the floor would say, he's no boy scout.

[mardukes]

PS- who else would earn a news item for hitting a bar on the way home from winning the Masters?  Hell, Cam Smith was regaled for announcing a bunch of stouts were going to go down after his British Open.

[RickyBobby_PR]

13 minutes ago, mardukes said:

I see him being painted by the imbecilic sports journalists as some sort of fringe character.  I could be imagining it, but to make the case is a cultural discussion that would be frowned upon by MGS authorities who would label it "political".

Sinister?  Scottie is just as much a killer at the moment as Tiger, Faldo, Mickelson, Nicklaus, Miller, Hogan... (Spieth when he was actually winning something.)

He is certainly blessed, but not just lucky.  As the commodity traders on the floor would say, he's no boy scout.

Again with the sinister term. He’s not sinister.

I don’t think anyone is painting him to be a boy scout nor does what you posted indicate he’s some bad boy. Going to a bar with coaches and managers isn’t some sinister move nor is it some rebellious thing either. 
 

I don’t think he’s a killer like Tiger. Nobody was on that level. Scottie is just focused on his game and doing what he needs to do on the course to give himself success. He happens to be good at ball striking and short game and doest get himself into too much trouble.

 

[mardukes]

we shall see