PINEHURST, N.C. — The bad news for the 155 players not named Scottie Scheffler in the U.S. Open field in this week at Pinehurst No. 2 is that Bryan Gillis isn’t in town.
The players with hopes of winning the year’s third major championship might consider inviting the Louisville Metro Police detective who arrested Scheffler at the PGA Championship last month at Valhalla.
Because he’s the only person who’s been able to stop the world’s No. 1 ranked player from winning.
Scheffler enters the week having won five times in eight starts this year. His worst finish was a tie for eighth at the PGA after Gillis arrested him for allegedly “dragging’’ him alongside his courtesy vehicle while trying to enter the golf club for his second round.
The charges were later dropped after video footage showed that Gillis embellished his account of the incident on the police report and was, in fact, not “dragged.’’
When Rory McIlroy was asked on Tuesday what’s been “most impressive’’ about Scheffler’s remarkable run of dominance that most recently includes his win at the Memorial on Sunday, he said with a laugh: “The fact that the only thing that took him from winning a golf tournament was going into a jail cell for an hour.’’
Scheffler’s past eight results are: win, win, runner-up, win, win, tie for eighth, runner-up, win.
No player has been on a run like Scheffler’s heater since Tiger Woods. No player has separated himself from the pack in the world rankings as Scheffler has since Woods in his heyday.
It’s not just that Scheffler is winning. It’s that he’s been winning marquee events: the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Players Championship, the Masters, the Memorial and the RBC Heritage.
These are cream-of-the-crop events with the strongest fields in the sport.
“He is the gold standard right now, and we’re all looking up to him going, ‘All right, how do we get to that level?’ ’’ Bryson DeChambeau said Tuesday.
“When you start getting compared to Tiger and things that Tiger has done, that’s when you know you are in a level that is quite special,’’ Jon Rahm said Tuesday. “To win five times in a season … and winning the tournaments he’s winning — Bay Hill, Players, Masters, RBC and then Memorial — you’re basically replicating a Tiger Woods season.
“As a competitor, obviously it’s an added motivation to see somebody do so well because that’s what we all strive for.’’
When fellow players are asked what part of Scheffler’s game sets him apart, the theme to their answers is the same: He does everything well and has no weakness.
“It just doesn’t seem like anything is wrong,’’ Rahm said.
“Obviously, we can play well and compete against him when we’re playing well, but he just seems to bring that game every single week, kind of taking the level of consistency just to another level,’’ Viktor Hovland said. “Like, you can have a nice little run, but then most of the time you kind of fall back to whatever — a more average week. But his average week is just really, really good.
“It definitely makes me work harder and motivates me to get better and try to compete against him.’’
DeChambeau and Scheffler, both Dallas-area residents, flew to Pinehurst together this week, and DeChambeau, who finished runner-up at the PGA, found himself picking Scheffler’s brain on why he’s been so good.
“I saw him and I was like, ‘Dude, you’re playing unbelievable, what are you doing, man?’ ’’ DeChambeau said. “He’s like, ‘I’m just playing good golf, I don’t know. It’s one of those things.’ ’’
We should all be lucky enough to have “one of those things.’’
McIlroy shakes his head at the way Scheffler’s been able to maintain his greatness with so many distractions swirling around him.
There is the automatic challenge that comes with being ranked No. 1 in the world, a status that seems to make many players uncomfortable because they become the hunted.
There’s the fact that Scheffler and his wife, Meredith, just had their first child, Bennett, last month.
And then, of course, there was the overzealous Gillis.
“Look, a lot of stuff went on in his life,’’ McIlroy said. “It’s not as if he hasn’t had his challenges along the way, or circumstances have been a little bit different for him. The word that I describe it as is ‘relentless.’
“It seems like every time he shows up, he is the guy to beat, and deservedly so. It seems like he’s always in contention. Undoubtedly the best player in the world at the minute by a long way. It’s up to us to try to get to his level.’’
Xander Schauffele, who won the PGA last month, echoed the sentiments of McIlroy, DeChambeau, Rahm and Hovland. They’re all chasing Scheffler’s greatness. Same way the other top players used to chase Woods.
“Every week we play, he seems to build a bigger lead,’’ Schauffele said. “And that somehow makes the mountain even taller for all of us to climb.’’
