Scottie Scheffler at center of back-to-back Masters buzz

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Winning any lone Masters is, of course, an immense feat. Not like just anyone with a mismatched set of clubs and a dozen X-out balls can do it. While all winners are not created equal, the green mantle of victory hangs just the same on Trevor Immelman as it does Jack Nicklaus.

But winning consecutive Masters, now, that is the ground upon which lasting legend is built. Only three have done it, none within the past two decades. One’s such a big deal that he’s knighted. You may have heard of them: Nicklaus (1965 and ’66), Sir Nick Faldo (’89 and ’90) and Tiger Woods (2001 and ’02).

There seems to be ample evidence that someone is going to come along soon and fill out this particular east Georgia Mt. Rushmore. Vegas makes him the favorite. Recent form has his back. There hasn’t been this kind of buzz about a possible Masters repeat since Jordan Spieth came here off his victory in 2015, went swimming twice in Rae’s Creek on Sunday and got ambushed by Danny Willett.

It’s another Texan’s turn now to audition for the role of mythic Master. So, show us what you got, Scottie Scheffler.

Just a year ago, entering the final round with a three-stroke lead, Scheffler was so shaken, so stressed out, so unsure that he belonged in that position that he “cried like a baby” back at his rented home that morning. By the end of the day, he had so skillfully managed his lead that he could look like he was trying to kill a roach with his putter on the final hole and it mattered not one bit to a three-stroke victory. His four-putt there was almost comic relief.

He’s entering this Masters the No. 1-ranked player in the world, with two wins – Waste Management and Players Championship – and two top-four finishes in his past five tournaments. His wife should not have to dry his eyes while he contends this time.

“Maybe last year could be a bit different just because it was my first one,” Scheffler said this week. “But I think going into a weekend with a lead, I’ll still be nervous. I don’t know what the emotions will be, but hopefully, I find out and I’ll let you know.”

If there is a template for returning to the Masters amid the hubbub of being a defending champion and blocking out everything but the hunger to win again, Scheffler may well fit.

The one expert on the subject competing this week points to a couple of necessary traits.

First, said Woods, is a special relationship between player and caddie. “I think the teamwork of player and caddie is so important here,” he said, “because there’s so many variables that go on – the lies, the wind, the gust, and knowledge of the golf course.” As a year ago, the same man who toted the bag for both of Bubba Watson’s Masters wins, Ted Scott, is hauling the freight for Scheffler. So, big check there.

Then, the five-time Masters winner pointed to a calm, surgical approach to playing Augusta National that can be hard for any player to maintain.

“Scottie knows how to play this golf course,” Woods said.

“What has allowed some of us to defend the title is understanding how to play (Augusta National). You couldn’t draw up a golf course that has more variable winds and more penalties for a shot that is 1 yard off. A shot that is 1 yard off can (with the next shot) mean 40, 50 feet on a putt. It’s just understanding that, having that patience and that knowledge. … You look at guys who have won back-to-back, have all been pretty special players.”

If we’ve learned nothing else about Scheffler since he went nuclear with four wins last season, it’s that the cat is cool at his core. That wasn’t always the case – Randy Smith, his lifelong golf coach, recently told ESPN, “When he came up as a kid, he’d get a little red and hot.” Today, he takes the same kind of face to the course that a test pilot takes to the other side of the sound barrier. Nothing visibly rattles him.

There’s a consistency to Scheffler’s life that plays well both in the care and feeding of sudden fame and in the pursuit of more.

His reign as Masters champ has been true to his personality: Low key all the way. “You would think that I’m a significantly different person than I was a year-and-a-half ago, but when it comes to life at home, everything is still the exact same,” he said.

In advance of his Masters defense he made sure to get here Sunday and play a full, fun 18 holes in order to, “get a little bit of the memories and stuff from last year out of the way as early as I could.” His chore was to flush as many distracting thoughts as possible and then get to the business of dissecting and diagramming his week.

The membership will be happy to learn that this is someone who cared responsibly for the green jacket, being careful not to do anything too goofy with it. He wasn’t wearing it to Whataburger or when power washing the driveway over the past year. Just breaking it out for events like wearing it to throw out the first pitch at a Rangers game, where, admittedly, he said, “There’s a funny picture of me almost breaking the buttons off the jacket because I forgot to unbutton it (before throwing the ball).”

He claims his biggest purchase after pushing his career earnings to over $33 million this year has been a cold tub that doesn’t work yet. He said he still drives the 2012 Yukon his father gave him before leaving for college.

And, most important to the work to be done here this week, he said, quite believably, that he is not consumed by the pursuit of legacy. That does nothing to help him hit the next shot.

“Any time you can get mentioned in the same breath as a Tiger and a Jack and a Nick Faldo is really special,” he said, “but it’s not a motivating factor for me to come out here and play.

“Legacy is a complicated thing. In a hundred years, I’m going to be forgotten and it’s not a big deal.”

That presumption may change in a few days.