CLAY HENRY: Olympics golf gold medal winner impressive, even from a Longhorn

Scottie Scheffler is a University of Texas guy. That kept me from embracing him in his early years on the PGA Tour. I don’t often fall for Longhorns.

I’m a stickler for traditional golf swings, too. Scottie’s feet move around a little too much for my taste.

But just like Miller Barber or Jim Furyk, what matters isn’t so much what a golf swing looks like, it’s where the golf ball goes when struck. Our Olympic golf gold medalist is as close to a Katie Ladecky as you are going to get in his sport right now.

I’m all in on Scheffler. Maybe it was watching him fight back tears on the medal stand Sunday as the Star Spangled Banner played, but I like him a lot.

I’m not going to slide my feet around during the weight shift of my ugly golf swing, but I won’t talk bad about him anymore. I won’t belittle him for a balky putting stroke. He makes enough.

No one hits more shots with the clubface square than Scheffler. He needs to make a few more putts to challenge for “best of all-time” mentions, but he’s the best of 2024. And if someone passes him in 2025, I’ll be surprised.

Winning seven times in one year reminds of Tiger Woods, but what we have in Scheffler is pure gold as a person, too. Sorry, Tiger, but this guy tops you as far as doing everything right at home as well as on the golf course.

So far about the only criticism with Scheffler is that he’s a little on the boring side. He’s bland in his interviews, although goodness has always worked with me.

Scheffler is growing on me, just like Olympic golf. Maybe because I was slowed by a summer sinus infection, I watched almost every shot of the 72 holes at Le Golf National, a magnificent water-dotted layout that reminded me of some of Pete Dye’s masterpieces.

Opened in 1990 and host of the 2018 Ryder Cup, the Albatros is one of three courses in the fabulous golf complex about 45 miles southwest of Paris. Players said it was in perfect condition and there was nothing I saw on TV that would challenge those opinions. It looked glorious.

Even Jon Rahm said it was a wonderful course despite shooting 39 over the last nine holes to blow a four-shot lead. I’m not a fan of LIV golf, but I like Rahm and winced as he stumbled home to fall off the medal stand as his rivals amassed birdies and eagles.

Despite it’s flat nature, the course reminded me of Augusta National, where Scheffler won the Masters last April. Birdies are everywhere on this French course, but there are also places that will gobble up anyone who is tentative. There is more rough than Augusta National, but the fairways are more than generous, sort of like Augusta National. The other main difference between the two courses, the greens Scheffler putted Sunday seemed mostly flat.

This was fun golf. I’m okay with the U.S. Open perils once a year, but I like to see birdies. Scheffler’s 9-under 62 was spectacular to watch. Coming home in 29 strokes thanks to six birdies is the stuff of champions.

I admit to pulling for Xander Schauffele early in the round. But when both Rahm and Schauffele began to spit the bit early in the back nine, I jumped on the Scheffler bandwagon.

Scheffler is the unquestioned best player on the planet. He’s been world No. 1 for 90 straight weeks. He has won the last two Tour Players Championships and two of the last three Masters.

His shot making ability is unrivaled on the PGA Tour. His lack of a pure putting stroke is his only flaw.

However, Scheffler is prone to hot streaks with the putter that produce hot rounds. He’s been hovering around the lead ever since his confidence skyrocketed after the 2021 Ryder Cup when captain Steve Stricker picked Scheffler, bypassing some obvious veteran choices.

Not only did Stricker put him on the team, he put him first off against Rahm, then the world No. 1, in the leadoff singles match on Sunday. Stricker buried Rahm, 4-3, in a match that was over in a hurry.

If you want to criticize Scheffler for his lack of charisma, understand it may be an asset. He is unflappable. He never gets too high or too low.

He’s the best on Tour after a mistake. No one follows a bogey with more birdies. When he drops a shot to par, Scheffler follows with a birdie at a 33 percent clip. That’s hard to fathom.

Of course, the secret is that he gets lots of great birdie looks because of his amazing shot making. More than likely, he’s followed that bogey with a drive in the dead middle of the fairway, unless the pin favors something on the edge.

There was no official money awarded at the Olympics, although the US Olympic Committee does present $37,500 for a gold medal. It was the least amount Scheffler has won this year (about half of what he made for a 41st finish in the U.S. Open.) He’s made $28 million in official earnings on the PGA Tour this year. He’s got 14 top 10 finishes in 16 events.

By all accounts, he’s still getting better. He’s likely to have a big lead when the PGA Tour play’s its season ender at East Lake in a few weeks. Betting on golf favorites doesn’t win you much money, but he’s my guy. Like Ladecky, he may win going away.