Jensen Larson

By Stephen Hennessey
There was an awkward exchange in the media room ahead of the 2022 Masters, in which a European reporter stumbled over a question in which he asked Scottie Scheffler: “I’ve been asked a lot, like, what are you like? I have no idea other than you being a very, very good golfer.”

Scheffler politely laughed off the question, recommending the reporter ask his wife. During his prolific stretch of four wins in a six-event span, punctuated by his three-stroke victory at Augusta National, golf fans have gotten to know a little more about the world No. 1.

You know Scheffler is a gritty competitor on the course, but you still might not know too much more about him off the course. Leave it to us to tell you all about golf’s new superstar.

1. Scottie Scheffler grew up in Texas but lived in northern New Jersey until he was six years old.

Though he’s grown up in Texas most of his life, he’s got strong Jersey roots. His mother, Diane, was high-school classmates of the late actor James Gandolfini at Park Ridge High School. His father, Scott, attended St Cecilia’s High School in Englewood, New Jersey (where the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi was a gym teacher).

When Diane got a job as COO of a law firm in Dallas, the Schefflers moved.

The new Masters champion recalled hitting shots in his backyard when asked about his Jersey upbringing during Masters Week. Scheffler called himself a Bruce Springsteen fan thanks to his Jersey roots.

2. The Schefflers borrowed money to join Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas, mostly so that Scottie had a place to practice. He began working with his swing coach, Randy Smith, at age six.

Scheffler is still a member at Royal Oaks and plays most of his golf there while he’s home.

Smith, a mainstay on Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers ranking and coach to Justin Leonard, Colt Knost, Harrison Frazar and other tour pros through the years, recalls meeting Scheffler when he was “no more than 3ft tall.”

“I walked down, his parents were there and they introduced him,” Smith recalls, “and he took his hat off, shook my hand, then went back to hitting balls.”

3. Scheffler grew up dreaming of being able to hit on the side of the Royal Oaks range where the tour pros practiced. Now he does … watch the video below as we explore Scheffler’s life at home in a recent video.

Watch below:

Scheffler was short for his age until he hit a growth spurt his sophomore year of high school. He still loves basketball—telling Golf Digest in 2014 that it’s his favorite sport to watch on TV—and while shooting around, he once hit 30 3-pointers in a row.

He always knew, though, that golf was his sport. As he told our Keely Levins in 2018: “In high school, I narrowed it down to just basketball and golf. My whole life, I knew how much I loved golf. It was the one sport I always wanted to be playing, regardless of the season.”

4. Scheffler attended Highland Park High School in Dallas, the same high school where Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matt Stafford went (though Scheffler is younger than them).

Scheffler’s first PGA Tour win came on Super Bowl Sunday at the WM Phoenix Open — the same day when Stafford won his career-changing Super Bowl with the Rams.

5. In high school, Scheffler started dating his wife, Meredith, and they’ve been together ever since.

Meredith was new to Highland Park her sophomore year, and recalls sitting next to Scottie in a math class. They started dating as seniors.

In the above ‘At Home’ video we did with the Schefflers, Scottie calls Meredith his best friend. And she has clearly been a huge influence on him.

Ahead of the final round of the Masters, Scottie admitted that he was “crying like a baby” on Sunday morning, unsure if he could handle the pressure. It was Meredith who assured him to be himself and trust the game that got him in that position.

6. He won the US Junior Amateur and earned an invitation to play in his first PGA Tour event at age 17.

Among many amateur accomplishments, this was the biggest. Scheffler defeated current PGA Tour player Davis Riley, 3&2, at Martis Camp in Truckee, California.

7. In his first PGA Tour event as an amateur, he made a hole-in-one.

With the US Junior Amateur title, he received an exemption into the 2014 Byron Nelson Championship. The Dallas native made the cut — then aced the 221-yard second hole with a 5-iron. He carded three rounds in the 60s and finished T-22.

8. An esteemed collegiate career at the University of Texas set expectations high for Scheffler as he turned pro.

Scheffler won national Freshman of the Year honors after winning back-to-back events (the Big 12 Championship and Western Intercollegiate) and was named to the 2017 Ben Hogan award watch list.

9. It might be time for a car upgrade: Scheffler still drives the same car he had in college, a Chevy Suburban with more than 175,000 miles on it.

Scheffler’s father handed his old car to Scottie while he was in college. We’d guess he might splurge on a new ride, given all the cash he’s made this season.

10. Scheffler represented the US at the 2017 Walker Cup, as a part of a star-studded squad.

The team, which consisted of current PGA Tour pros Collin Morikawa, Will Zalatoris, Maverick McNealy, Cameron Champ, Doug Ghim and Doc Redman, crushed the Great Britain & Ireland team 19-7 at Los Angeles Country Club.

11. At the 2020 Northern Trust, Scheffler shot a 59 in the second round.

He became the 12th player to card a sub-60 round on the PGA Tour — and was the second youngest to do so.

12. Major championship success came early for Scheffler — even as an amateur.

He was the first-round leader at the 2016 US Open at Oakmont as a 19-year-old college sophomore, where his sister, Callie, caddied for him. Scheffler said that week: “I’m glad she was able to get the week off to come help me out. She’s a week into an internship, and she’s already asking for a week off. Hopefully she doesn’t get in trouble.”

13. Scheffler switched to a new putter ahead of his win at the WM Phoenix Open.

After a trip to the Scotty Cameron putting studio in California in the offseason, the Texan switched to a Cameron by Titleist Special Select Timeless Tourtype GSS — and went on to win his first tour event that week.

He also noticed the putter was slightly off the week of the Masters, so he asked Titleist tour reps to take a look. They noticed the loft and lie angles were significantly off—and so they tweaked the putter to Scottie’s liking the day before the Masters started.

14. In winning the Masters, Scheffler joined Ian Woosnam as the only players to win the Masters in their next start after becoming world No. 1.

Scheffler also joined Woosnam, Fred Couples, Tiger Woods and Dustin Johnson as the only players to win the Masters while being world No. 1.

15. With first-place winnings of $2.7 million, Scheffler has now made more than $10 million in the 2021-22 season alone.

Of course, those are just on-course earnings. The endorsement opportunities will come quickly for Scheffler, who wears Nike apparel and just inked a deal with TaylorMade.