Tiger Woods wasn’t just rewrites his golf record book. He also rewrites sports psychology. He and Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and all the other maniacs driven athletes played sports over everything else in their lives.
Now comes Scotty Scheffler, who is very similar to Tiger in the Record Book, but very different from him in terms of psychological composition. If Woods pushes his own mother aside to win another tournament, Schaeffler should be more balanced, honest and healthy – have an opinion on life, golf and victory.
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“I feel like I’ve been working for a lifetime to celebrate winning the tournament for just a few minutes,” Schaeffler said Tuesday morning before the Open Championship that begins Thursday at the Royal Portrush. “It lasts just a few minutes and that euphoria.”
He designated a victory at Byron Nelson earlier this year. “To win the Byron Nelson Championship at home, I literally played golf to get a good job of golf and have the opportunity to win that tournament.
Schaeffler nailed the essence and conflict that is at the heart of golf, or at the heart of sports in general. There is a big difference between victory and fulfillment. “Is it great to be able to win tournaments and accomplish what I have in a golf match? Yeah, I literally worked my whole life to be good at this sport, which brings tears to my eyes,” he said. “I think it’s a pretty cool feeling to have that kind of sense of accomplishment. It’s very special to make your dream come true, but at the end of the day, I’m not here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I’m not here to be the best player in the world.
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And we reach the Tiger-Kobe-MJ Conundrum. What happens when you achieve everything in life you want, isn’t enough. “There are a lot of people who make it into what they thought would fulfill them in their lives,” Schaeffler said.
Schaeffler appears to have reconciled with the fact that he wants to win at the same time and knows that it will not satisfy him. “That’s what I struggle every day,” he said. “It’s like it’s like showing up at the Masters every year. Why do you want to win this golf tournament so badly? Do you want to win an open championship so badly? I’m going to be amazing for two minutes. And we’re back here again.”
What is Schaeffler rescued? According to him, family. “I’m blessed to be able to get out here and play golf, but if my golf started to affect my family life or my relationship with my wife and son, it’s going to be my last day I’ll make a living here,” he said. “This isn’t everything. It’s going to end everything. This isn’t the most important thing in my life. That’s why I’m struggling. Why is this so important to me?
Can you imagine Prime Tiger or Prime Coby saying that? Both seemed to be heading towards that philosophy once their most competitive play day was over, but not when they were at the heart of their careers.
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Schaeffler’s entire answer is definitely worth looking at:
“It’s really weird to play professional sports,” he said. “That’s really true. We’re working hard for something so fleeting, just because we’ve put in so much effort. That’s really true. The feeling of winning isn’t that long.”
Luckily for Schaeffler, he gets more opportunities than most people and enjoys their fleeting moments of victory.
