It didn\u2019t help that partner Russell Henley struggled in Friday morning foursomes or that Europe\u2019s Jon Rahm simply made a lot of putts in Friday afternoon\u2019s four-ball match or that Scheffler and partner Bryson DeChambeau were 8 under through 16 holes in fourballs and still got beat by the amazing combo of Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood. Sometimes, you have to tip your cap to the opponent.<\/p>\n
But when Scheffler missed the 18th\u00a0green from 116 yards with a wedge with a crucial match in the balance on Saturday morning, his face was one of mourning, the match all but done, a second straight losing Ryder Cup record secured.<\/p>\n
How much do you think that possible point mattered Sunday? Or any of the others he could not earn?<\/p>\n
Scheffler has been all about team this week and in the weeks and months leading up to the Ryder Cup, buying into captain Keegan Bradley\u2019s plan, getting behind the idea for a bonding and game-sharpening trip to the Procore Championship\u2014which he won\u2014and basically being willing and able to do what he was asked.<\/p>\n
But the truth is Scheffler is the No. 1 player in the world by a mile, the winner of two major championships this year and four total. He should be expected to lead the Americans in such a situation. It\u2019s certainly not all on him, but you can\u2019t win without your best players performing and the nature of the Ryder Cup is such that had Scheffler even been average\u2014say, win two of the four team matches\u2014the Sunday singles might have produced a U.S. victory instead of another agonizing defeat.<\/p>\n
Instead, he became the first Ryder Cup player since 1967 to lose all four of his team matches. Since his rookie appearance in the competition in 2021\u2014when he went 2\u20130\u20131 before he had ever won a PGA Tour event\u2014his record in the last two Ryder Cups is 1\u20136\u20132. He\u2019s 0\u20134 in foursomes. Two years ago, with Brooks Koepka, he lost 9 and 7, a record margin. (He also was 0\u20133\u20131 at the 2022 Presidents Cup.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The powerhouse pair of Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler lost in Saturday four-balls. \/ Peter Casey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
It is absolutely unfair to put this all on Scheffler, but it\u2019s also shocking that his results were so poor before his Sunday singles win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was probably one of the lowest moments of my career,\u201d Scheffler admitted Sunday night.<\/p>\n
Prior to the event, Scheffler was asked if expectations on him should be higher. The inference was related to his incredible golf over two years, his dominance. Does that translate to the Ryder Cup?<\/p>\n
\u201cShould the expectations of me be different than any other player? I mean, I don\u2019t really think about that kind of stuff. If that\u2019s something you want to write about, then more power to you,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cWhat I focus on when I show up is my preparation, and I have prepared for this tournament, I\u2019m ready to go out and compete.<\/p>\n
\u201cI truly don\u2019t think about expectations or anything like that. That\u2019s wasted space in my brain.\u201d<\/p>\n
And yet, there were undoubtedly outside expectations. Huge expectations. Why wouldn\u2019t there be? Scheffler won six times this year, including two majors. He\u2019s finished in the top eight in his last 15 events. He\u2019s been hailed by Bradley as a leader, pushing the others to embrace the trip to Napa for the Procore Championship.<\/p>\n
On Saturday night, staring at that daunting 11\u00bd to 4\u00bd deficit while trying to project confidence, Bradley was asked a question about the shock of Scheffler\u2019s record. And he told a story about Russell Henley, who partnered with Scheffler for two of the matches.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe said Scottie had the weight of the world on his shoulders, he\u2019s the No. 1 player in the world. And he cared more about how Russell was doing than himself,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cScottie has been the best teammate in our team room this week, without question, period. He has been open to any pairing. He has been open to play any session. Five, four two. Didn\u2019t matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was one of the first people that said that we\u2019re going to go to Napa to play and be prepared. This means everything to him.”<\/p>\n
Perhaps that is one area where Scheffler differs from Woods, who amazingly never had a winning record after the very first day of his Ryder Cup career in 1997, finishing 13\u201321\u20131. Woods seemed indifferent about the Ryder Cup until later in his career. He once replied to a question about his record by asking the inquisitor what Jack Nicklaus\u2019s Ryder Cup record was. (For the record, 17\u20138\u20133.) The point is it\u2019s not something that comes readily to mind.<\/p>\n
But clearly Scheffler cares. He cried in Rome after that humiliating loss with Koepka. And there were tears in his eyes on Sunday when being interviewed post-round following his victory over McIlroy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Scottie Scheffler has shown emotion throughout his Ryder Cups. \/ Peter Casey-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s hard to put into words how much it hurts to lose all four matches,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cTo have the trust of my captains and teammates to go out there and play all four matches and lose all four, it\u2019s really hard to put into words how much that stings and hurts.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll go back and reflect on that. But one of the coolest things was these guys picking me up last night. The guys on this team, this is a really special group of guys. We have a special captain, and I was proud to be standing there fighting with these guys today.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it showed a lot about our team. I think it showed a lot about the job all these guys did to put us in a position to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Woods, it always appeared he had trouble finding the right partner. He sometimes intimidated them as much as his opponents. That appears less of an issue with Scheffler, who is friends with Henley and certainly had no issue playing with DeChambeau. There\u2019s no doubt that taking down the world No. 1 is considered a source of pride for the opponent, almost a double winner, with an attitude that there is nothing to lose.<\/p>\n
\u201cLook, you need your big players to step up,\u201d European captain Luke Donald said, noting that McIlroy went 3\u20131\u20131, Rahm was 3\u20132 and Tommy Fleetwood 4\u20131. \u201cYou absolutely need your big guns to fire and that\u2019s what we are proud of. The U.S. big guys, their guns, they didn\u2019t get as many points as ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s really that simple. Scheffler went 1-4. DeChambeau went 1\u20133\u20131.<\/p>\n
Think about this big if: The duo wins their four-ball match, and just one other among the other four combined losses … and the U.S. wins the Ryder Cup 15\u201313.<\/p>\n
Sure, there\u2019s all kinds of conjecture when you lose, including the various pairings that Bradley put out. But none of it matters if those two players do … just … that … much … better.<\/p>\n
That is what comes with expectations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FARMINGDALE, N.Y. \u2014 All the trophies, all the accolades, all the dominance means so little, it seems, when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":["post-189529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}