Africa-Press – South-Africa. Scottie Scheffler may not have been as prepared as he could have been for last year’s US Open, but on Tuesday the tournament favourite at Oakmont Country Club said he was well-rested and had done his homework ahead of golf’s toughest test.
Scheffler arrived at the 2024 US Open fresh off a win at the Memorial Tournament and made the cut at Pinehurst without a shot to spare. He later admitted he did not feel he was properly prepared for that year’s third major.
So this year world number one Scheffler took a different approach. He still played and won the Memorial, which was moved back to its traditional spot on the calendar, and then sat out last week’s Canadian Open to focus on the US Open, which starts on Thursday.
“Having the week off was really important for me to get home, get some rest, recover, and I showed up here on Sunday and was able to play maybe 11 holes and really get used to the conditions,” said Scheffler ahead of the tournament in Oakmont, Pennsylvania.
“It feels much more like my normal major prep versus last year where you’re coming in from basically a Major championship test, coming into another one is pretty challenging.”
Since the calendar turned to May, Scheffler has matched the PGA Tour 72-hole scoring record with a 31-under total at TPC Craig Ranch, won the PGA Championship by five strokes, finished fourth at Colonial and won at Muirfield Village by four strokes.
The challenge ahead for Scheffler, whose three wins so far in 2025 came during his last four starts, will be passing the daunting test that Oakmont Country Club presents given its narrow fairways and penal rough.
“This is probably the hardest golf course that we’ll play, maybe ever, and that’s pretty much all it is. It’s just a different type of test,” said Scheffler.
Given his form Scheffler is naturally a heavy favourite and will have plenty of support as he makes his way around Oakmont, perhaps especially from those who have placed wagers on him.
He said he hears plenty from those who bet on golf and that was why he deleted his account on peer-to-peer payment service Venmo as some people would send him part of their winnings or demand he cover their losses.
“I was either getting paid by people or people requesting me a bunch of money when I didn’t win,” said Scheffler. “It wasn’t a good feeling.”
“I don’t remember the most that somebody would send me. Maybe a couple bucks here or there. That didn’t happen nearly as much as the requests did,” Scheffler added.
A win this week for Scheffler would put him alongside Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth as the only active players with three legs of the career Grand Slam of golf’s four majors.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy conceded on Tuesday he did not know how hard it would be to stay motivated after completing a long-sought career Grand Slam donning the gren jacket in April but hopes to hit the reset button in at the US Open.
McIlroy has struggled since the Masters and will need to rediscover both his hunger and form off the tee if he hopes to be in the mix at the year’s third major.
“I’ve always been a player that struggles to play after a big event, after I win whatever tournament,” said McIlroy.
“I always struggle to show up with motivation the next week because you’ve just accomplished something and you want to enjoy it and you want to sort of relish that you’ve achieved a goal.
“Chasing a certain goal for the better part of a decade and a half, I think I’m allowed a little bit of time to relax a little bit. But here at Oakmont, I certainly can’t relax this week.”
In his last two starts, McIlroy finished 47th at Quail Hollow for the PGA Championship, where he struggled off the tee using a backup driver after his preferred one was deemed nonconforming, and missed the cut last week in Canada.
While his recent results are well below the five-time major champion’s expectations, McIlroy knows they came while he was enjoying the fruits of his labour and also feels they ultimately serve a purpose.
“Weeks like Quail Hollow or even weeks like last week, it makes it easier to reset in some way, to be like, OK, I sort of need to get my stuff together here and get back to the process and sort of what I’d been doing for that seven months from October last year until April this year,” said McIlroy.
The Northern Irishman, like everyone in the 156-player field this week, will have his work cut out for him at Oakmont given errant tee shots on the par-70 layout will be swallowed up by penal rough.
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