COLUMBUS, OH (93.7 The Fan) – It’s probably hard for world number one golfer Scottie Scheffler to be around a golf course, open any social media, really go anywhere without being praised. On Sunday, it was taken to a different level as man who won more majors than anyone in golf history had some big things to say about the PGA Champion.
“He reminds me so much of the way I like to play,” Jack Nicklaus said after Scheffler won his Memorial Tournament for the second straight year. “I don't think I played nearly as well as he played. He's playing better than I played and more consistent.”
Those are huge words from the man who, along with Tiger Woods, is referred to as the greatest of all time. There are several areas of his game that impress Nicklaus, one of them being the desire to be great every round.
“If he is thinking about being the best and starts believing he's the best, pretty soon he starts scratching his ears out here like this, and that's death,” Nicklaus said. “Once you start to get a big head and you believe you're too good, then you will get beat.”
Nicklaus, who won 18 majors, 73 PGA events, 117 total worldwide tournaments, said his mentality every tournament was to that he had to be better. He had to climb a mountain was how he put it. You can never say ‘oh, I’m really this good’.
Jack could have believed that and said he believes Scheffler is the same way. Nicklaus also said Scheffler is smart about how he finishes. That is backed up by Scheffler winning each of the last nine times he held a lead going into the final round.
Scheffler sat next to Nicklaus on a stage after his 16th career win, seemingly half-embarrassed as the Hall of Famer continued to sing his praises. At one point glad a question was retracted asking him to respond to what Nicklaus was saying.
Nicklaus wouldn’t give up the mic. He said when you are a competitor like himself and Scheffler, you know what you need to do to win.
“He has the ability to bring his level to whatever level it needs to be,” Nicklaus said. “That's what good players do. And, you know, he's not a good player. He's a great player. I mean, look at the record that he has had the last few years. It's unbelievable.”
“I think that great players are ones who rise to the occasion and ones who know how to play coming down the stretch in important events.”
That’s when Nicklaus observed about the others chasing him this past weekend.
“Looking at the leaderboard today, he didn't have -- I mean, Ben Griffin's a nice player, Sepp Straka is a nice player, Nick Taylor is a nice player,” Nicklaus said. “Those were all the guys that were there basically coming down the stretch. But he knows that those guys, you know, are not in his league.”
Nicklaus said Scheffler just had to watch the leaderboard, know what his competition was and do what he needed to beat that competition.
“Sometimes you would have to fight it off because you knew they would self-destruct,” Nicklaus explained. “So, obviously, you just don't make dumb mistakes, play solid golf, and you win.”
“He didn't put himself in a position to lose the golf tournament. He was always in a position to win. And if he had to do something more spectacular, he was in a position to do so. But he didn't have to. So you don't take any chances to do that.”
Scheffler had three rounds of 70 and one of 68 to beat Griffin by four shots. It’s his third win in 12 tournaments and that’s coming off a season where he won seven times. He’s the favorite for the US Open and every tournament he enters and he has a big fan in the golfing legend.
“He's just been playing fantastic, and I love watching him play,” Nicklaus said. “Whether it's here or on the television or whatever it is, I love to watch. Anytime he's playing, I want to watch.