David Piller, a basketball coach at Dallas Highland Park High School, instilled the essence of basketball in his players. For the coach who leads the varsity team to win the most, card slots, blocking and collision are all important. These skills are unremarkable, don't appear in statistics, and don't even attract the attention of college coaches, but they are all abilities that varsity teams must have to participate in The second-largest high school league in Texas.
However, Piller asked one of the players to be more cautious than the others in training and in the game. The varsity team's number one "sixth" of the class of 2014 was Scotty Schaeffler, the nation's number one junior golfer.
(Schaeffler speaks after winning the Masters)
"Several times I had to pull him aside and say to him, 'If you see the big guys on the other side rushing over, you just get out of the way,'" Piller recalled in an interview on the morning of the Masters final round, when his former player was preparing to kick off with a three-stroke lead. "He doesn't care much about his health. My biggest fear is that such an approach would jeopardize his golf career. ”
In high school, Schaeffler was willing to do what he could for the team's victory. At the 86th Edition of the Masters, this was also reflected. He overcame the cold, windy weather and withstood the pressure of equalizing the biggest lead in the tournament to win his first Grand Slam.
He advanced to the weekend with a 5-stroke advantage and then took a 3-stroke lead over second place to the final round. Although there was a "four push" vignette on the green of the closing hole, it was eventually won with a 3-stroke advantage. He was also the only player to finish under par in all four rounds, shooting a 278 (-10).
The Masters is Schaeffler's fourth win in his last six games, cementing his "world number one" position. When the 25-year-old Schaeffler first arrived at Augusta, he was ranked first in both the FedEx Cup standings and the World Official Golf Rankings. Now, his lead in both rankings has been further expanded.
(Schaeffler won four in six matches)
For the past two months, Schaeffler seemed invincible. But he confessed after the game that in the face of the huge pressure brought by this important moment, he was in tears before the final round.
"I was so stressed that I didn't know what to do," he said. "I sat there and told Meredith (my wife), 'I don't think I'm ready.'" I really wasn't ready. ”
On Sunday, before they made their way to the tee on the 1st hole, Schaeffler caddie Ted Scottrazipped his white jumpsuit, pointed to his chest and showed Schaeffler his green dress, which read, "Everything has its own providence." Meredith Schaeffler enlightened her husband with the same words that morning.
Once on the pitch, Schaeffler showed the same tenacity as he did with his heavy shots. It was very helpful for his last day of play.
A steady short stroke helped him complete some key paula - and also caught an incredible birdie, a goal that changed the course of the game. On No. 1, he missed the fairway at the kick-off and rolled the ball over the green. He then cut the ball a few inches from the hole, allowing Cameron Smith, who was close behind, to pull back just one shot.
Then there was the birdie on the 3rd hole, when he faced the possibility of losing a single lead for the first time since the second round. He drove the ball up a steep slope and watched as the ball slowly rolled into the hole. Smith is one of the world's top shortball players — as was well represented when he won the Players' Championship last month — but it took him three shots in the same position to hit the hole, giving Schaeffler a three-stroke lead.
Scott said it was the birdie that laid the foundation for Schaeffler's confidence, "I'm ready to hit a good shot." ”
On the 11th hole, when Schaeffler was defending again, Smith caught the birdie and was still three shots behind. Schaeffler then "pushed everything" on the 12th hole, while Smith tee off the water and swallowed a bogey, and the gap between the two was widened again. On the 15th hole, he cut the bird again with precision, completely eliminating the suspense of the game.
"I never thought I would be in this position," he said at a press conference after winning the championship, "in life, you don't have to have expectations, you just need to do what is right now... I never thought about how well I could play, so I just kept practicing and trying, and that's what I'm going to keep doing. ”
On a cold winter night, when two college coaches appeared in the stands of the Highland Park High School varsity team game, Piller expected Schaeffler's future to be bright.
Piller walked up to the stands and asked the two coaches from the University of Texas and Texas A&M university why they were watching the junior game, when he discovered that the two were golf coaches and had come to show Schaeffler that they wanted to sincerely invite him to sign.
That summer, Schaeffler won the National Junior Championship and reached the quarterfinals of the National Amateur Championship. He also made his PGA Tour debut as a senior — achieving T22 at the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship.
At that time, Schaeffler had been growing up at the Royal Oaks Country Club for ten years.
The Schaeffler family moved to Texas when he was six years old and became a member of the stadium. Schaeffler Jr. soon became a regular at the back of the driving range. Some PGA Tour players will gather here to learn from the club's legendary coach, Randy Smith.
As a teenager, Schaeffler often sat on the barrel of golf at the driving range and watched Smith teach justin Leonard, Gary Woodland, Ryan Palmer, Harrison Flasser and Kolt Norther. Smith soon realized that Schaeffler was different from other children of the same age.
Smith said: "He has a goal in everything he does. This quality is rarely seen in children. But he never changed on that. ”
Nost described Schaeffler as a "natural golfer". His talent was cultivated in a unique environment. The professional players at The Royal Oaks welcomed the teenager among them and quietly observed their training.
"He didn't say much unless he couldn't figure out the players' shots," Smith recalled an PGA Tour player who was hitting the ball with a dug-up rod toward the hole 87 yards away. After several unsuccessful attempts, little Schaeffler innocently asked, "Why can't you hit it?"
"That's his attitude. If that's what you want to do, do it. Smith said. When Schaeffler stepped forward, standing in another position not far from the player, his third shot hit the flagpole directly. A "bang" sounded, indicating the child's talent.
"He always sucks energy like a sponge," said Nost, who played nearly 200 PGA Tour games after winning the National Amateur and National Amateur Public Links Championships in 2007. Nost himself was working in the bunker when a ball landed on the green and the ball bounced twice and stopped near the cup.
"How did you do it?" Nost asked. "I was just watching," Schaeffler replied.
Norst also joked about the story of Flasser, who had won an PGA Tour title once. He spent hours practicing on the greens at the time, trying to finish Smith's training. Schaeffler, who came to the stadium after school, did it on his first attempt.
Schaeffler had his own advantage in putting and cutting the ball, even though he was only 10 years old at the time; he would also serve on the tee at the back of the Royal Oaks, even though he was too young to hit the par four greens. It taught him how to play strategically and improved his short-bar skills, which came in handy at Augusta. It is worth mentioning that Schaeffler has been playing with professional players in trousers since then.
"I think that's where he learned to play golf," North said. "Right now, most of the young players are trying to be perfect, honing them for the perfect swing, the perfect course. But he [Schaeffler] always knew how to play golf. His swing wasn't the best looking, but he did. ”
(Arnold Palmer won four in six games in 1960 and Schaeffler won four in 2022)
Under Coach Smith's guidance, he learned how to hit the ball and focus on scoring instead of caring if his swing was good. This was reflected in the warm-up before the Schaeffler final round. In the warm-up, he alternately plays left and right curved balls, high ball and low ball.
"He's trying to hit the ball," Baba Watson said. Watson was in the same group as Schaeffler at last year's Zurich Classic in New Orleans and also won two Masters titles. "(Augusta) is the perfect place for him to be creative."
Ted Scott, who accompanied Watson to two Masters victories, is Schaeffler's current caddy. Last September, Watson announced a friendly separation from scout Scott, who has been working with for a long time. Scott has since become A caddie in Schaeffler. Schaeffler, who has a pious faith, has a close relationship with Scott, and Schaeffler describes the partner as "modest, hardworking and honest."
"He (Scott) is an amazing guy," Schaeffler said of the caddie, "and it's so special to have him backpack." "Of the ten games they've worked together, Schaeffler has won four.
Even though he is already a Masters champion, the attitude of the people around him is always the same.
"My accomplishments in golf have not changed my personal life," he says, "and Meredith always wants to live in peace, which is also the feeling I want on the pitch, calm, have fun, and then 'resign myself to fate'." ”
Schaeffler will love his new status as "world number one" and masters champion. A week ago, he joked that as a "brother in the world," he shouldn't be taking out the garbage. But he was told he still had to do housework.
His car is still the SUV that has been driving for ten years. It was his father's purchase at Augusta the day after the 2012 Masters, when their car broke down on the way to the game. Scotty's father joked: "Everyone else got a T-shirt as a souvenir, and I got a car loan. ”
Now the owner of the car is the Masters champion.