AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler longed to be a professional golfer who wore shorts to lessons at the Royal Oaks in Dallas and even to junior tournaments, no matter how sweltering the Texas heat was.
At no time did he imagine what he would look like in a green vest.
Establishing himself at the Masters is the owner of all golfers, particularly in Texas with a legacy of champions ranging from Byron Nelson and Ben Hogan to Ben Crenshaw and Charles Coody to more recently Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed.
Scheffler hasn’t changed much.
“I’ve never been one to think too much about what the future might hold for you,” Scheffler said Sunday night as he tried to absorb the enormity of his three-stroke win at Augusta National.
Tiger Woods alluded over the weekend to the window of time when everything goes right for a player, whether it’s Fred Couples in 1992 or Woods countless times. The hope is that window falls in the middle of a major on the schedule, and Scheffler’s streak has come at just the right time.
He was victorious at the Phoenix Open, at Bay Hill and in Match Play over a span of seven weeks. The victory in the Match Play allowed him to jump to the top of the ranking, and then it was the turn in Augusta.
While waiting to put on the green vest for the first time, someone asked him about the first time he dreamed of such a moment.
“Probably the first time I thought about it was on Friday afternoon, after the end of the round,” Scheffler replied.
“Really?” they said.
Really. Scheffler was bored for the past few months saying that he was just thankful for the opportunity to compete. That was the dream. What made him cry was receiving the invitation in the mail when he qualified for his first Masters, the one that changed the date and was played in November 2020.
Win a Masters? It was something that he began to conceive after taking off by five shots in the lead after the second round and entering the final day with a three-shot lead.
Scheffler just wanted to compete. The attitude has not changed at all.
