Steve Hummer: Scottie Scheffler chill amid all the Masters expectations

Scheffler’s not going to get drawn into the conversation.

So the 2022 Masters champion just keeps saying things like:

“Sometimes I can’t believe it myself, walking in the (Augusta National) champions locker room.”

“I’m kind of somebody who likes to stay out of the way of things.”

And: “At the end of the day, life goes on, a lot more than just my golf score. This is just one little phase of my life, and it just happens to be in front of an audience. But outside of that, you know, home’s a lot more important to me than out here (the course).”

So cool.

Since collecting his first PGA Tour win in February of 2022 in Phoenix, Scheffler has only gained speed. He’s already won the Players Championship twice, has eight PGA Tour wins at the age of 27 and in the run-up to this Masters has two wins, a second and a third in his previous five tournaments.

Through it all, he has managed to still sound like the same kid from Texas for whom golf was not the be-all, end-all. As he related here this week: “The way I was raised, golf wasn’t really a huge deal in my house. It was just something that I always loved to do.

“I think sometimes you see a lot of parents who really want their kid to become really, really good at something, and they think that’s what’s going to bring them joy. But becoming a really good golfer may bring you a little bit of momentary joy, but it doesn’t sustain it for very long. Winning a tournament makes me happy for about five minutes, and then you got to do a bunch of other things that are a little bit more difficult than winning the tournament.”

Asked the source of his unflappability, Scheffler routinely mentions a foundational faith. Then he leans on the mantra of not letting a game define him — and saying it in a quiet, committed way that is easy to believe.

Time at the top, he knows, can be terribly tenuous. “I like competing out here, and hopefully I’ll be out here competing for a long, long time,” Scheffler said. “But life throws crazy stuff at you sometimes. So we’ll see how long it happens. Hoping it’s going to be a long time.”

No player since Woods has come to a Masters fitted with such an imperative to win. It’s an expectation that borders on certainty, which is sheer folly in a game where each swing comes with a dozen different ways to fail.

But if anyone can handle the heat, it is Scheffler. The man is cool. He begins his Masters at 10:42 Thursday morning — unless when he steps to the tee he sets off a temporary frost delay.