Scottie Scheffler cruised to victory at The Open Championship, but Skip Bayless has not been impressed with the world No. 1’s comments ahead of the tournament
Skip Bayless dragged Tiger Woods into a rant about Scottie Scheffler(Image: The Skip Bayless Show/YouTube)
Skip Bayless has criticized Scottie Scheffler’s outlook on life, despite the world No. 1 demonstrating his excellence and cruising to victory at The Open Championship.
Scheffler dominated at Royal Portrush, securing victory by four shots to claim his fourth major championship. The 29 year old generated buzz before the tournament when he revealed that golf wasn’t his highest priority in life and that the satisfaction from winning was temporary.
Instead, Scheffler, who has since confessed to a noisy rumor from The Open, emphasized that his family and faith took precedence, stating he would abandon the sport if professional golf ever created tension in his personal life. Elsewhere on the golf course, Donald Trump was caught breaking the sport’s etiquette at Turnberry, which was crawling with security for his trip.
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Scheffler’s remarks sparked considerable discussion among players and commentators after he declared: “This is not a fulfilling life.”
Former ESPN and FOX Sports commentator Bayless thinks Scheffler’s life philosophy undermines his extraordinary talents. He stated on his podcast: “I was jolted and jarred by what Scottie Scheffler said on the Eve of the British Open.
“No, Scottie, no. God gave you spectacular ability to play the world’s hardest game, gave you the strongest competitive drive since Tiger [Woods], gave you what Jack Nicklaus had, what Ben Hogan had.
“You can’t just shrug it off at age 29 and focus on being a better father than a golfer. You can’t do that, Scottie, no. God wants you to maximize the platform from which you can honor him, and encourage fans to open their hearts to him, to god.
“That’s what god has led or called you to do, Scottie. Not to focus on your wife and infant son before you are 30. Golf is just too hard; the line is just too fine between dominating and missing cuts.
“So, when I first listened to Scottie Scheffler’s ‘What’s it all mean?’ comments the day before The Open, I couldn’t help but think he would not win another major. Jack won 18, Tiger won 15. I couldn’t help but think Scottie would be stuck on three.”
Scheffler celebrated winning the Claret Jug at Royal Portrush(Image: Oisin Keniry/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
Bayless claimed that Scheffler’s remarks reveal he lacks the “cold-blooded” mentality that fueled the careers of Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Bayless appeared to imply he shares more similarities with those athletes’ dedication to their craft than Scheffler does.
“See Tiger Woods, see Michael Jordan, see Tom Brady. And on a far, far lower level, see me. Yup, I have always been obsessed with maximizing the talent god gave me. I felt I was called by god to be the very best truth-telling commentator and writer as I could be. The very best,” Bayless declared.
“However, I could maximize my talent that god gave me, I’m going to do it. To do so, I sacrificed having children because I saw that correctly raising children would be a huge, time-draining distraction from maximizing my talents.
“You might say, I took on the persona of a cold-blooded media killer, driven to achieve at all costs while honoring god and tithing to my church, supporting other great causes as I have over the years.”
Following his triumph with the Claret Jug, Scheffler provided additional insight into his remarks, maintaining that his desire for victory remains undiminished. However, Bayless contends the two-time Masters winner continues to have misplaced priorities.
“Atta boy, Scottie, that is it,” Bayless added. “That is exactly what you could have and should have said before the tournament. Now, Scottie did go on to say on Sunday night, ‘My greatest priority is my faith and my family. Golf is not how I identify myself.'”.
“No, Scottie, but it is how you can build a monument to god. Deep down, I do believe that Scottie is driven to be the greatest of all time.”
