Scottie Scheffler refused to identify the career grand slam as his next target after securing the US PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. The American’sfive-shot winmeans he is halfway to a clean sweep of majors, with the US Open and Open Championship left. Rory McIlroy became just the sixth man to win the grand slam last month at Augusta National.
Scheffler, though, is anxious to stay in the present. “I don’t focus on that kind of stuff,” Scheffler insisted on the making of history. “I love coming out here and trying to compete and win golf tournaments. That is what I’m focused on.
“After this week, I’m going to go home and get ready for next week’s tournament and the show goes on. If I show up and miss the cut next week, I’m going to have to answer questions of what went wrong and just start over again. That’s one of the things that can be frustrating about our game and it’s also what’s great about our game. If I had a tough day today and came in with a loss, I could step back up on the tee Thursday next week and have another chance to win a tournament. It’s an endless pursuit and it’s a lot of fun. It’s definitely one of the great joys of my life to be able to compete out here.”
Scheffler admitted he had to change his driver head on Tuesday after it failed a compliance test relating to the depth of the face, carried by the United StatesGolfAssociation. Heavy attention had surrounded the fact McIlroy had to do precisely the same thing. “The driver testing is something that regularly happens on tour,” Scheffler said. “My driver did fail this week. We had a feeling that it was going to be coming because I’ve used that driver for over a year. I was kind of fortunate for it to last that long, I felt like. I would argue that if we’re going to test the drivers, we need to be even more robust in the way we test them.”
Scheffler, who was pushed strongly by Jon Rahm for a spell during round four, lifted the Wanamaker Trophy 12 months on from being arrested for an alleged traffic offence at the gates of Valhalla. All charges were quickly dropped but Scheffler spent the lead up to his second round in 2024 in a police cell.
“It’s definitely very sweet sitting here with the trophy,” Scheffler added. “I definitely have a few jokes that I want to say that I’m probably going to keep to myself. Last year sometimes, it still doesn’t almost feel real. It really doesn’t. It’s just one of those deals that I really don’t know how to describe it. But I can tell you it’s very sweet sitting here with the trophy this year.
“This was a hard week on a very difficult golf course and very difficult conditions over the weekend. The winds were high and it was very challenging. I’m definitely very pleased to be sitting here with the trophy. It’s a pretty sweet feeling.”
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Rahm offered perspective after falling short. He had tied Scheffler at one stage on day four but endured a horrible finish, eventually closing seven shots adrift of the champion. Rahm played the last three in five over.
“I always like to go back a little bit on something that Charles Barkley likes to remind basketball players all the time,” Rahm said. “I play golf for a living. It’s incredible. Am I embarrassed a little bit about how I finished today? Yeah. But I just need to get over it, get over myself. It’s not the end of the world. It’s not like I’m a doctor or a first responder, where somebody if they have a bad day, truly bad things happen. I’ll get over it. I’ll move on.”