{"id":691759,"date":"2026-07-14T20:27:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/691759\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T20:27:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T20:27:08","slug":"were-all-going-to-die-scottie-scheffler-keeps-things-in-perspective-before-open-defence-golf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/691759\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re all going to die\u2019: Scottie Scheffler keeps things in perspective before Open defence | Golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

Something about the Open Championship seems to bring out the philosopher in Scottie Scheffler. Last year the world\u2019s best golfer questioned the meaning of life <\/a>before claiming his fourth major title. This year, though, it was his legacy that was more on his mind.<\/p>\n

Scheffler was in an ebullient mood, despite missing his first cut in 79 tournaments at the Scottish Open last week. So when talk turned to his comments at Portrush \u2013 when he famously asked \u2018What is the point of it all?\u2019 \u2013 he couldn\u2019t help but smile when he found himself saying \u201cat the end of the day I am going to live my life and it\u2019s going to end\u201d this time around.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that going to be a quote after last year\u2019s \u2018what\u2019s the point?\u2019 Scheffler queried. \u201cThis year we\u2019re all going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the laughs had subsided, Scheffler made a more serious point about why he didn\u2019t really care about his legacy \u2013 or how many titles he could win.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have never once thought about how I\u2019m going to be remembered,\u201d he said. \u201cTo me, it truly doesn\u2019t matter from a sense of accomplishment. Like when I die, \u2018hey, Scottie won four majors and 20 tournaments and he won this much money\u2019. That has zero effect on me.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory to me isn\u2019t that important,\u201d he added. \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily want to be remembered for winning the tournaments that I won. I\u2019d much rather be remembered for the way that I did it: doing things the right way, treating people the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy tees off on the 7th hole at Royal Birkdale on Tuesday. Photograph: Adam Vaughan\/EPA<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of my best friends in the world I met through playing golf. When I was young, I took myself a bit too seriously. I\u2019ve gotten better as I\u2019ve gotten older of letting the competition be the competition, and when you\u2019re done, take your hat off and shake hands and we\u2019re on to the next week. History for me has never been the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while Scheffler has sometimes cut a frustrated figure on the course this season, having won only one event, he insists his mind is at peace as he aims to retain the Claret Jug.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess the point for me was figuring out your \u2018why\u2019,\u201d he explained. \u201cWhy am I doing this? Why do I want to win this tournament so badly? Why do I choose to play this sport for a living? I think that\u2019s when I\u2019m at peace the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scheffler\u2019s comments were echoed by Rory McIlroy when he was asked how he wanted to be remembered in 100 years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really care,\u201d came the reply. \u201cI would like to think that the people that love and care about me think a certain way of me, but yeah, I\u2019ll be long gone. I\u2019ll be dead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be seeing what people say about me,\u201d he added. \u201cI\u2019ll be six feet under. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be a ghost. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be, you know, like \u2013 yeah, I don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n

McIlroy is the second favourite to win his seventh major title but he insisted that he no longer had a one-track mind when it came to his legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it would be a pretty 11fulfilling pursuit if you\u2019re just chasing records and chasing results,\u201d he added. \u201cYou have to enjoy the process. You have to enjoy the journey to get there. I\u2019ve learned that the hard way at times by chasing results and chasing records too much.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Something about the Open Championship seems to bring out the philosopher in Scottie Scheffler. Last year the world\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":691760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-691759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/691759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/691760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=691759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=691759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}