Scottie Scheffler caused real controversy on day one of The Memorial Tournament when he snapped at his caddie, Ted Scott, after hitting his ball into the water on the par-three 16th hole.
Scheffler has cut a frustrated figure at times out on the golf course this season.
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And his frustrations boiled over on Thursday at Muirfield Village.
Scottie Scheffler cruised around the front nine in two-under par, but ended up shooting a two-over par 74 on day one of The Memorial Tournament.
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
Scheffler was swinging the golf club superbly well ahead of The Memorial, but that didn’t translate out onto the golf course.
The 29-year-old world number one’s temper got the better of him out on the golf course on Thursday, and his caddie bore the brunt of his frustrations.
Scottie Scheffler speaks after snapping at his caddie at The Memorial
Scheffler found the water with his tee shot on the 16th hole and he was visibly stunned by the error he just made.
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However, the Dallas native seemed to blame Ted Scott for getting the wind direction wrong.
Scheffler berated Scott during the entire walk up to the green and carried on after he holed out for his double bogey.
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
After his round, Scheffler responded to questions about what happened on the 16th.
“That’s just another really good iron shot, and the wind switched from down off the right to pretty significantly in off the right,“ he said.
“If it’s down off the right, that ball’s probably where I hit my wedge shot to. So just don’t really know what I’m supposed to do there outside of trying to hit a good shot, and then it’s frustrating when it doesn’t work out, especially when it doesn’t work out in that direction.
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“I would rather get gusted in off the left, not in off the right there. All you can do is just try to hit good shots. It can be very frustrating sometimes when you feel like you’re hitting good shots and then you’re going to the drop zone.“
The 29-year-old is obviously not used to hitting many bad golf shots.
And while his tee shot on 16 wasn’t a poorly struck shot, he definitely started it on the wrong line.
If the 20-time PGA Tour winner was under par standing on that tee, he would have unquestionably aimed 30 feet right and he wouldn’t have even been close to the water.
Maybe Scottie Scheffler needed to let his anger out
Scheffler’s behavior on the 16th hole on Thursday at The Memorial was very poor to say the least.
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That said, the most elite athletes in all sports almost always have that edge – it is what makes them so good in the first place.
Scottie Scheffler is one of the most competitive sportsmen on the planet, if not the most competitive.
Sometimes his anger gets the better of him, but we don’t see it that often because he has been so consistently good over the past few years.
Scheffler won’t be proud of his actions on Thursday at Muirfield Village, but maybe letting all of his frustration out will serve him well moving forward.
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