Scottie Scheffler forgot he could use rangefinder at RBC Heritage 2025
Pace-of-play changes are coming to the PGA Tour this week at the RBC Heritage. Scottie Scheffler forgot all about them.
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Scottie Scheffler remembers being spent after winning the 2024 Masters and flying in later than normal for the RBC Heritage. But the world No. 1 wasn’t too tired to prevent him from heading home with another trophy.
“That was a week in which I didn’t really make very many mistakes. I think that was the difference maker there,” he said. “I didn’t really have very many bogeys, if I remember right. Just a shank in the first round. I think I doubled that hole and my only other bogey was the 18th hole on the Monday, so on the whole, a mistake-free week other than the shank.”
Scheffler’s victory, which spilled into Monday morning due to dangerous weather conditions during the final round, marked his fourth Tour title in five starts.
“The feeling you get from winning a tournament is a pretty special feeling,” he said on Tuesday during his pre-tournament press conference ahead of his latest title defense. “For me, I wish it lasted longer than it did. It doesn’t really last very long.”
After making winning look routine last year, when he won seven times during the regular season as well as Olympic Gold and the Hero World Challenge, an unofficial event, the 28-year-old Texan still is seeking his first victory this season. During his Masters title defense last week, Scheffler was lurking at 5-under heading into the weekend and a threat to win his third Green Jacket in four years, but he was stuck in neutral on Saturday (72) and came up a bit short, finishing fourth after a final-round 69. Scheffler said playing in a major always is draining but he’s not as exhausted as a year ago when he flew home after his media obligations at the Masters and celebrated late at night at a Dallas dive bar before flying back for the Heritage on the eve of the tournament.
“It takes a little bit out of you, but the adrenaline you get from actually winning the tournament is a lot different than getting close,” he explained.
To illustrate the difference, Scheffler pointed out how he played the 18th hole at Augusta National on Sunday after blasting his tee shot in the fairway. At the time, he was two strokes behind Justin Rose and Rory McIlroy and mathematically still alive – likely needing to hole his second shot.
“I’m thinking to myself, I’m going at this pin. I’m going to try to hole this, and then (Rose) makes it, and you’re like, well, tournament’s over. I lost. Didn’t win, lost, whatever,” Scheffler said of Rose’s birdie putt at 18 to grab the clubhouse lead at 11 under. “I was looking at Teddy, and I’m like, ‘All right, Teddy, I guess I’m going to aim at the middle of the green now.’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, aim at the middle of the green. Let’s get out of here.’
“If Rosie misses that putt and I hole it, huge adrenaline rush, and that takes something out of you. Kind of like the adrenaline rush you get from getting arrested. It takes something out of you.”
Scheffler said his mindset was the best it had been all season but his driver let him down, which limited his opportunities to be aggressive in his approach game. Scheffler didn’t specify what round he was referring to, but he noted that one night he told his wife, Meredith, that when he aimed for the middle of the fairway, his ball tended to veer right or left – anywhere but at the target.
He said he battled as hard as he could but conceded that his hand injury had taken more of a toll on his preparation than he expected.
“It felt like starting over,” said Scheffler, who described it as playing “catch up” after missing two starts and not making his season debut until the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in early February. “I haven’t had my best stuff this year, but I feel like I’m learning a lot. Each week I feel like I’m improving and continuing to learn…I feel like each day I come to the range, I’m getting a little bit better. Things are starting to feel more the way they should.”
On Tuesday, Scheffler donned his tartan jacket that goes to the Heritage champion and wore a pair of ear plugs for the Cannon Drive, part of the opening ceremony that began with a bang as Scheffler drove the first tee shot of the week into Calibogue Sound.
“That was unique,” Scheffler said. “I was definitely glad just to be able to make contact with the ball and not embarrass myself out there.”
