Scottie Scheffler shows how to 'putt' God first

Summer 2024 has featured action from many different sports. One jewel in Britain’s sporting crown comes in the shape of The Open - the final major in the golfing calendar.

This year’s 152nd Open Championship took place at Royal Troon, on Scotland’s west coast, and golf’s biggest names competed once again to become the ‘Champion Golfer of the Year,’ and win the famous Claret Jug trophy.

One man who sought glory was world number one Scottie Scheffler, who won his second Masters title at Augusta in April. He has had a stellar year so far, and has set several records, although could only tie for seventh place in Troon. As you may remember from our May issue, Scheffler is particularly interesting because of his Christian faith - and indeed he accredits his biggest career wins to God.

He said after winning the Masters: 'Hopefully [golf] doesn’t define me too much. It’s just something that I do, but it doesn’t define me as a person.

'The reason why I play golf is because I’m trying to glorify God and all that He’s done in my life and so for me, my identity isn’t a golf score. Jesus loves you, and nothing changes that, and all I’m trying to do is glorify God, and that’s why I’m here, and that’s why I’m in this position. So for me, it’s not about golf.’

For Scheffler, the golf score he achieves is not that important. So long as he is glorifying God, he is relatively content. And, almost ironically, by caring less about his golf score, and more about what God thinks of him, he actually performs better on the course.

Freedom from pressure

By prioritising a healthy perspective on what is truly important in his life - relying on the Lord, and not on his own abilities - he plays freely under huge pressure. Compare his approach with Rory McIlroy, who is desperate to win a fifth major title. McIlroy is a serial winner, but crumbles whenever he arrives at one of the four majors. Just look at what happened at June’s US Open!

Scheffler, however, never gets too up or down during the 72 holes of a tournament, and his supreme emotional control gives him a competitive edge, so different to the demeanour of his rivals that they notice there is something different about the way he lives.

Scheffler’s example has also seen golfing legends take note. Six-time major winner Nick Faldo admitted it is clear Scheffler’s faith in Christ is crucial to his success, and enables him to win tournaments, as it brings a peace to him on the course, replacing the life-or-death style importance placed on golf which engulfs many players.

We can take inspiration from Scheffler’s example. While we may not be able to become the Champion Golfer of the Year, we can see how we should view God compared to the other things in our lives.

Freedom from pride

God should always come first, and so long as we glorify and honour Him in what we do, then everything else should be secondary. In such an increasingly anxious world, this approach will help us alleviate some of that anxiety, due to our primary focus being to please Him, and not ourselves or others. It will also help quash our pride, as we will lean not on our own strength, but on His, who enables us, whether that be in the workplace, in the sporting arena or at home.

Scheffler’s insistence that the Lord is the most important thing in his life provides his life with peace and fulfillment, both privately with his wife and newborn son, and on the golf course. If we prioritise God, we will be better placed to achieve a similar outcome.