ON TOP OF THE WORLD

Garrett Johnston talks to Scottie Scheffler and those closest to him about his rapid rise

- Garrett Johnston

Scottie Scheffler's speedy ascent to World No.1 has taken many people by surprise. However, those who know the 25-year-old best all talk of a young man who has always been quietly focused on making it to the very top. Even when he was ten years old he would wear long trousers every day to practise in Dallas, Texas, because that's what it looked like to be a pro golfer. This was just one of the small clues that led many of those close to him to believe he was destined for great things. The last few months have certainly proved them right.

His amateur career also hinted at a player with a bright future, with the highlight being a win at the US Junior Amateur. He went on to have a strong college career, though the unfortunate timing of playing at the University of Texas at Austin just a couple of years after Jordan Spieth meant his achievement were somewhat overshadowed. He was also held back by injury problems which stemmed from a big growth spurt as a teenager.

"When I started recruiting him he was like 12 years old and he was 5ft tall and 100 pounds," UT men's coach John Fields recalls. "Six years later he was 6ft 4in and 200 pounds. So he pretty much doubled in size, and the issue was that he had a continual upper/mid-back injury that we had to deal with for the entire four years. And it was simply because of the growth; because he had sustained such an amount of growth in such a small amount of time. That's why I give his coach Randy Smith so much credit, because Scottie ended up becoming the NCAA freshman player of the year [the Phil Mickelson Award]."

Scheffler's college career materialized into a very strong four-year individual campaign. However, in the aftermath of Spieth's dominant run there, Scheffler did not quite get the due credit for what he actually accomplished.