A Season Of Waiting Begins For Scottie Scheffler After Open Championship Triumph
Scheffler's patience will be tested as a new season of his career begins.
And now, we wait.
Following his masterclass at Royal Portrush to win The Open by four shots, just four rounds of golf stand between Scottie Scheffler joining golf's immortals as a career grand slam winner.
While Scheffler would like to begin his first attempt at that test just as he grabs hold of the Claret Jug, he'll have to wait exactly 336 days to see if he is the man to find the winner's circle at the 2026 U.S. Open to join the game's most exclusive group.
Many things will happen between now and Scheffler staring down history for the first time at Shinnecock Hills next June. The normal ebbs and flows of everyday life will take place. He'll make thousands of golf swings, he'll play in at least a dozen more tournaments against the best players in the world, and he'll enter the unknown of tomorrow just like the rest of us, all while his patience for opportunity is tested beyond belief.
While most may squirm at the idea of beginning an 11-month waiting period before beginning the most exciting opportunity of their career, if Scheffler has shown the world anything over the last few years, it's that he's shockingly comfortable when he's asked to be patient.
Nobody hit the golf ball better than Scheffler at Royal Portrush throughout Open Championship week, and one of the key factors in that was his patience to take what the golf course was giving him.
He didn't force driver off of the tee when it wasn't needed, he didn't go after pins that brought trouble into the equation, didn't get frustrated at a poor bounce, and ignored the outside noise about him having not quite figured out how to get around links-style courses across the pond.
Scottie Scheffler completed a masterclass at Royal Portrush. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
Scheffler always lets his ball-striking do the talking, and he did so again at Portrush while leading the field in approach for the week. His distance control with the irons for four consecutive days was a sight to behold.
Some will claim it's boring to watch the best player in the world hit pin-high approach shot after pin-high approach shot, but that consistency and commitment to hit the shot required in the moment and executing it is exactly the reason he is the undisputed best player on the planet.
His second swing of Sunday afternoon was the perfect representation of that. After narrowly missing the fairway on the proper side of the opening hole, he hit his 145-yard approach shot to 16 inches by using the slope pin-high of the hole, and tapped in for birdie to set the tone as early as he possibly could.
Scottie Scheffler is the Champion Golfer of the Year. (Photo by Warren Little/Getty Images)
While it would be disingenuous to say the going ever got tough for Scheffler during the final round, his trademarked patience was tested just before he made the turn on Sunday.
After finding trouble in a fairway bunker on the Par 4 eighth hole before walking away with a double bogey, instead of giving any of the chasers in the field an ounce of hope, he squashed any dreams by making a birdie on the very next hole in a moment that slammed the doors of the golf tournament shut.
The golf world has run out of adjectives or phrases to describe Scheffler's game as he's occupied its peak for more than two years now, but this week it only feels fitting to ask, and try to answer, the question Scheffler asked himself in the press area before The Open even began: what's the point?
Scottie Scheffler celebrates his victory at The Open with his wife and his son. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
That's the same question any honest human will admit they ask themselves a countless number of times throughout life, and for Scheffler and anyone else, the point is the journey itself and those memorable moments we pick up along the way.
Scheffler now begins what could perhaps be the longest wait of his journey before getting his first opportunity at golf immortality, and it's fair to assume the core memories will continue to add up between now and then for the game's most patient and talented player.