AUGUSTA — Scottie Scheffler found a moment to laugh Tuesday afternoon at Augusta National Golf Club.
His Masters Tournament preparation was finished for the day, and soon to begin was his prep as host of the Masters Club dinner as defending champion.
One menu item stood out among the rest – Papa Scheff’s meatball and ravioli bites, complete with Pecorino cheese and a tomato basil sauce.
Ravioli has been all that’s stood between the top-ranked player in the world and the type of early-season success he’s used to enjoying on his route to Augusta National. He sliced open his hand while using a wine glass to cut ravioli for Christmas dinner, requiring surgery and forcing him to delay his season debut to the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at the beginning of February.
No hands were harmed during Tuesday night’s dinner, though beforehand Scheffler joked about the potential dangers that could await.
“In terms of if I was trying to take out the competition, I would definitely do a demonstration, something along those lines,” he said with a laugh. “But yeah, hopefully avoid the injuries. Maybe they’ll cut up my steak for me, I won’t have to use a knife or anything like that. We’ll see.”
And now it’s all business at Augusta National, where Scheffler looks to defend his title. The betting favorite to win this week, with a victory Scheffler would join Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02) as the only back-to-back champs, and he would match Nicklaus’ (1963-66) lofty mark of winning three green jackets in a four-year span.
Still, he doesn’t view his status as defending champion – or the fact that he’s never finished outside of the top 20 in five career starts here – as any type of advantage heading into the opening round.
“I mean, at the end of the day, when I tee it up on Thursday, I start the tournament even par just like everybody else,” he explained. “Last year doesn’t have a lot to do with this year, outside of I can go back on some of the experience that I’ve had playing well on this golf course and reflect on that.
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