Why Scottie Scheffler decided to shun the Genesis Scottish Open this year

Why He Shunned the Genesis Scottish Open This Year

Runaway World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has decided to shake things up ahead of the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon, a move that has left the golf world buzzing. The golf prodigy has elected to skip this week’s Genesis Scottish Open for the first time since it became a PGA Tour event. His goal? To best prepare himself to etch his name on the famous Claret Jug at the 152nd Open Championship at Royal Troon next week.

 

Scheffler, 28, has had a mixed set of results at The Renaissance Club since the DP World Tour’s Scottish Open merged with the PGA Tour in 2021. He finished T12 on debut in 2021, missed the cut in 2022, and then finished T3 behind winner Rory McIlroy in 2023. But the runaway World No.1, who has won six times already on the PGA Tour this season, has called for major change ahead of Troon.

 

Having slipped on the green jacket for the second time in three years this April, Scheffler has been through a rollercoaster few months. Despite racking up six wins in his last 10 starts, it has all come during a period where Scheffler became a father for the first time. He also got arrested during a wild week at the US PGA (finished T8) in May, before all charges were dropped against him last month.

 

Scheffler admitted to being mentally exhausted en route to a lackluster T41 at the US Open last month. That came a week after he won the Memorial Tournament, a tournament he said he only played in because Jack Nicklaus was the host. “I think maybe my prep would have been a little bit better for this week if I was at home,” Scheffler declared after the US Open. “But I’m obviously not going to skip Jack’s tournament. It’s a tournament I love playing. It’s a tournament that I’m humbled to be the champion at.”

 

Scheffler added: “I feel like going forward, I’ll maybe do things a little bit differently in the weeks leading up to the majors, especially when you know it’s going to be a challenging setup at a US Open.” As a result of his under-par performance at the US Open, Scheffler has decided to mix things up ahead of The Open and chosen to skip this week’s star-studded $9m Scottish Open in North Berwick.

 

The tournament had initially been on Scheffler’s early schedule for 2024 but he decided against it at the last minute. Scheffler needs to win three more times this season in order to match Tiger Woods (2000) and Vijay Singh’s (2004) record of nine wins in a PGA Tour season. It now looks as though Scheffler will only be playing in four more tournaments in 2024 – The Open, FedEx St Jude Championship, BMW Championship, and Tour Championship. He will therefore need to win three of them if he is to emulate the feats of Woods and Singh. Scheffler has already smashed one record previously set by Woods that many deemed was unbreakable.

 

So why is Scottie Scheffler not competing in the 2024 Genesis Scottish Open? Instead of competing at the Scottish Open, Scheffler and his family have gone on a short break with friends. Scheffler has been posing for snaps with his wife Meredith and baby boy Bennett on vacation in Colorado. Much to his rivals’ disappointment though, Scheffler has still been honing his golf skills on the course in recent days.

 

Scottie Scheffler on his trip to Colorado with Meredith, Bennett, and other family + friends on Instagram: “Escaped the heat for the 4th” pic.twitter.com/HQEstLqg6g — TrackingScheffler (@SchefflerLegion) July 8, 2024

 

Scheffler will now head over to Royal Troon with his team later this week as he goes in search of landing a third career major title and his first Open. The 12-time PGA Tour winner, who won in his last start at the Travelers Championship three weeks ago, has had some indifferent results at The Open. Scheffler has played in golf’s oldest major three times – all coming a week after having played in the Genesis Scottish Open since 2021 – with results of T8, T22, and T23. Given Scheffler is in the form of his life right now, and seemingly armed with a well-behaved putter, the bookmakers have once again taken no chances by installing him as a red-hot 9/2 favorite at Royal Troon.

 

McIlroy is back in action this week for the first time since his US Open heartache to Bryson DeChambeau last month. The World No. 3 is bidding to become the first-ever player to successfully defend the Scottish Open. He will then head over to compete in The Open as he looks to end a 10-year winless spell in the majors.