Walking The Course w/ Scottie Scheffler- PLAYERS Championship Mark Carnevale Interview

Fairways of Life is joined by Mark Carnevale, who covered Scottie Scheffler’s group through the first 2 rounds of the 2024 PLAYERS Championship providing coverage for PGA Tour LIVE. Mark Carnevale is a golf analayst, PGA Tour winner, and the 1992 Arnold Palmer Award recipient for Rookie of the Year.

To give us perspective on all of this is more and more is Mark Carnaval he was the 1992 PGA Tour rookie of the year that distinction is now called the Arnold Palmer award Carney thanks for joining us I guess there’s no other place that I can start with you on this Tuesday

Morning than to ask based upon what you eyewitnessed this past week as part of the coverage what do you make of the performance that you saw from Scotty Sheffer and winning back-to-back players uh flat out impressive Matt uh you know we chatted a little bit last week about

This and your stats right there speak for themselves uh this is a golf course I think where stats sort of uh confirm your winner uh this is a golf course where driving accuracy is very important uh Greens in regulation is very important obviously putting is important

Every week but this week in my opinion it tends not to be quite as important in the sense of uh if you’re not getting yourself to the greens uh you’re going to be you’re going to be struggling at times but it’s just an unbelievable performance and you factor in uh the the

Slight injury or whatever you call injury the crick in his neck or whatever ultimately it was for Scotty shefer to battle through that and you know that’s to me just a sign of the best players in any sport uh they have a desire to win

Uh they will try to do whatever they can to get through whatever injuries they have and that was just a perfect example of it but let’s not count out the performances of Brian Harmon and Windham Clark and Xander Schley as well I mean they were right there and the fact that

All three of them had an opportunity to tie Scotty on the 18 pole uh is ATT tributed to to this golf tournament uh to the way the course was playing and uh it just what a finish but no it’s it’s two weeks in a row I I only followed

Scotty on Friday Thursday and Friday so I wasn’t with him on the weekend but obviously were watching and seeing what’s going on and he just has this Knack where it’s like okay you’re going to give me a chance here uh I’m I’m gonna I’m gonna I’m gonna make my push

Now as we always talk about Matt there’s luck uh in this game in order to win golf tournaments and certainly the whole out at four was impressive uh and certainly contributed to his ability to to get close to the lead but just he’s just an unusual player in the fact that

We know he’s talented but at the same time and you heard in his interview just a lot of the humbleness that he exudes and I just think that’s uh very unique and very impressive yeah no doubt about that Carney very unique and very impressive is is well phrased when we’re talking

About Scotty Sheffer in round one he had a 67 you noted that you were assigned to him in rounds one and two he had a 67 in round one he had a 69 in round two from what you saw on Thursday and Friday were you sitting back going okay this is

Pretty typical Scotty Sheffer although he’s picking up where he left off with a win the week before which is clearly not easy he spoke in his sound about it being a mental and physical test uh to play that well and back to back weeks but nonetheless

6769 were you thinking uh this is a pretty good start or were you starting to think that yeah maybe something is going on here with the physical alement or otherwise well well certainly with the opening round that was impressive look like uh and obviously there’s been comparisons with he and Tiger Woods and

And you had to laugh at his response to some of the fans that were talking about it and and his the reality that he understands that he’s a long way to go but I just this performance on the golf course and tiger always started I wouldn’t say he never got off to a

Really hot start but kind of worked his way through the tournament and worked improved every day uh so the opening 67 I thought pretty pretty normal uh he played in the afternoon where tends to be the afternoon conditions just a little more challenging but you know

There was good scores uh in both rounds morning and afternoon and then the way he battled through Saturday I mean it it looked like maybe he was too far back because the the the the extent of the injury was unknown uh but as you said in his press conference it didn’t get any

Worse on Saturday uh and he he felt good about that and that it continued to improve still getting treatment uh it just shows you you can’t you can’t ever count count him out I mean five shots back uh in any tournament is is maybe not so much uh in this tournament I I

Think it tends you know that’s a pretty good Hill to overcome and he just kept putting himself uh in position I mean I guess what he was uh seven under and 14 under so he would have been seven back uh going into the weekend and you’re

Thinking okay you know go out there make sure he can get through it you know he’s going to have another good week uh but then it’s almost like he turned on the the switch F the switch there uh as he got to finish his rounds on both days

And uh I’ve come to believe to never unexpect anything Matt in the sense of golf golf is challenging but all these players are so good but now we’re coming to expect that from him without question my sense is Carney and and and I’m not I don’t have any evidence to

Back this up you know that I can say well look what he did here or look what he did there I’m I’m more looking at he he comes off the win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and comes into this one ready to go but he overcomes a physical ailment all of these different

Pieces that at the end of the day add up to him winning a second consecutive players I just feel like and I’m not suggesting that it wasn’t there before I’m suggesting I guess that we’re seeing it more and I’m talking about mental resiliency about just mental toughness

He he talked to to it a little bit in his press conference but it’s not something and and maybe I’m I’m being influenced by it because leading in he was asked about the the players that went to live and and he was he seemed almost a little chirpy about it was like

Well why don’t you go talk to them instead of talking to us I just saw kind of a a mental posturing uh and exposure to Scotty Sheffer that I don’t remember seeing before am I seeing something here or did you pick up some of that too I I

Didn’t I I think it’s just the reality of it he realizes all he can do is control what he does uh and he’s he’s doing that quite well I think it’s confidence too uh if I’m not mistaken this is his ninth win now uh on the PJ

Tour I think that he build you build confidence uh in that and there’s nothing that uh confidence is something that you can’t really teach you have to sort of earn that and I think he is starting to earn that uh you know had a little bit of a law when

Consider that he’s the number one player in the world from his last win until he won uh you know a week ago at Bay Hill at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then to back it up this week um he loves to play golf and that’s what’s so

Unusual it’s that I mean all these guys do it but he sort of realizes that you know when he’s on the golf course that’s what he’s there to do he’s there to win he’s there to perform but he’s able to separate it uh once he leaves the golf

Course but you have to have that little sort of edge of confidence that little reality of hey you know I’m I’m pretty darn good here uh you know let’s see how far we can take this and you know as long as he does and works towards that

Goal of of trying to be in in in the mix in all the tournaments he enters uh I I think that’s impressive and he even alluded to the fact hey you know it’s now time to get work for uh to get work started for Houston and and continue

That so he is constantly looking forward uh I don’t think he looks back on it I mean I don’t recall anyone talking about his putting this week be no reason to uh but it’s almost put that stuff in the in the in the rearview mirror and and just

Moves forward this is one of the times year that I think about you in particular Mark’s dad is a legendary basketball coach he’s in the Basketball Hall of Fame and the the fact Carney that that your dad is in the Basketball Hall of Fame at the time and

I think about this because of the big dances going on right now right up where I am in this in this part of the world seat Hall St John’s Providence didn’t get in at the same time in the World of Sports at large we’ve got baseball right

Around the corner The Boys of Summer are back we’ve got hockey playoffs that are getting geared up we’ve got the Premier League that’s getting ready to wrap up in more so with all of that as as the background of this incredible time of year when we have have the players is

Just wrapped up we got a couple of weeks or three more PGA Tour events before we get to the Masters the table is set but getting to the set table that lies before us I definitely want to talk to you about some of the things that we saw

I alluded to him as we were going to the break first of all the course setup I got the sense that the people who were setting up the golf course were a little bit frustrated that they couldn’t get it dry harder and faster but at the same

Time talking about setting the table it set the table for an incredible finish that we saw at this players what are your thoughts in terms of the overall setup of the golf course and how Mother Nature provided or didn’t I think it was good and you never

Know you can’t uh Mother Nature uh controls uh you know herself uh they we had a bad kind of winter couple months in January and February we got a lot of rain wasn’t great conditions uh in the sense of it wasn’t to dry out the golf

Course uh I think I thought the staff did a great job they they were able to do what they do at times uh on Friday afternoon we started to see a little more firmness a little bit more on Saturday uh but the big factor was the

Wind and we didn’t get the winds and the challenging winds that we normally get uh players struggled and I think that’s one of the beauties of this golf course Matt is that even when you get good conditions I mean just look at players that struggled out there mean Max hom up

There and Bird’s maid and shot even par there were number of players who were leading in birdies and were not near the lead of the golf tournament uh which shows you the challenge of the golf course I did a little standup uh hit on

Uh Friday on on PJ Tour live and I said on every shot on this golf course you feel uncomfortable and I think I don’t know if there’s a b at least in my mind I don’t know if there’s a better way to say it that despite very favorable

Conditions every time you attempt to hit a golf shot you feel uncomfortable uh there’s no there are no layups so to speak using the sort of connection with basketball right now there’s no layups on this golf course even the short holes uh we saw players struggle with so

Despite that but at the same time you know it’s about the competition Matt and no matter how whether you set the golf course up hard whether it’s considered easy favorable it’s still about the competition and you still have to perform and and certainly those guys uh

You know at the top of the leaderboard went out there and performed and there were players that had the same conditions that didn’t perform um is it ever going to be perfect no uh you can’t script perfect when you have a live uh competition you can try uh but I I find

It very difficult to be able to do that on a regular basis and uh it’s what’s there it’s in front of you it’s fair to everybody I think that’s the other big thing is the setup was fair and uh it’s a Challen Challenge and players were not

Used to it I talked to a number of players and they said the biggest challenge for them were on the shorter irons uh they had to be careful the spin because of the receptiveness of the greens and being able to adjust to that yeah you want to be able to stand up

There and know exactly what the golf ball does every time but that’s the beauty of talent and being able to adjust to it uh and those that were able to adjust to it uh you know certainly gave them s a chance to win this week

This past week carne I I have a feeling that you and I have the same perspective on the following and that is I love seeing players come out of nowhere now obviously they’re not out of nowhere they’re there for a reason they’re they’re amongst the best players in the

World but players that you don’t expect I mean if you look at this season alone Grayson Murray back in in the winter Circle uh Nick Dunlap Matthew Pavone Jake knap Austin ekro just to give you some examples I really enjoyed seeing those players emerge that’s why I like

Bigger Fields I like the cuts etc etc but having said all that and you alluded to it when you first came on with us this morning the leaderboard that we had at this players from Scotty Sheffer ultimately at top the leaderboard to what we saw from Windam Clark and the

Heartbreaking lip out on 18 to what we saw from Xander sha shley looking like is he going to continue a March where yeah maybe maybe he will fulfill the promise of the potential that we see in him and then Brian Haron the the reigning open Champion giving it a run

And finish on 19 under as well how important to the tour was this leaderboard and this strength at this event well I mean it’s always important Matt but I don’t know if it it made it any different because I think what you alluded to was sort of the guys I

Wouldn’t say as you said not out of nowhere but that’s what I think separates the PGA tour from uh from Liv in that you have stories like that I mean the stories are set over there they know the the bigname players and again I I don’t hear much about it of course I

Don’t follow much of it but I think what you want to me it’s always been about the competition and when it’s a big event and you look at that Matt you have you know going back to 2022 you had three major championship winners in those Final Four Guys in Scotty Sheffer

And wam Clark and and Brian Harman he had two of the last four major winners there so they Ste up to the plate you know winning those major championships helped them uh and and you talked about Xander maybe the most accomplished player not to win a major championship

Now um so to me that’s what it’s about it’s it’s this event is is the Players Championship it is the PJ tours players championship and uh it’s you you can debate on whether it’s a major whatever it certainly had the excitement of a major um uh and I I just think I think

Too much maybe made of all that Matt in the sense of you get an opportunity to play on the PGA tour and you’re either able to take advantage of it or you’re not and I think that that’s what the beauty of it is but I don’t think it it

Makes it like okay well the PJ tour is so great now because we had this finish I think it’s always been great and I think it’s what it represents at least in my mind that separates it so this just sort of a little more icing on the

Cave that icing on the take of course Carney we have uh three more weeks of play on the PJ tour before we go to Augusta but nonetheless I’m going to ask you the question storylines heading into the Masters what do you think they are primary now well it has to be Scotty sheffler

For sure uh you know Windam Clark and then what are the Live players going to do your defending Champion is now moved on to live uh you know you have former Champions over there and and John RAM and and Dustin Johnson and Sergey Garcia Phil Mickelson uh you know are those are they

Going to compete you know it’s it’s the more time they’ve had sort of away from the grind of the competition of the PJ tour I I I have to feel you know while they’re all competitors could be a factor uh I think it’s going to be

Interesting to see I think it’s great if they’re they’re in the mix and it would be okay if if one of them wins it uh that’s fine uh uh because you want the best competition but but I think to me is you know with everything else going

On you know is it going to is it going to be the same or or we’re going to see maybe some separation uh from that well let me ask you this Cony Before We Say Goodbye on this Tuesday morning if I gave you Scotty Xander or Rory versus the field would you take

Would you take the three versus the field uh yes really I would interest all right I’m going to leave it there so we have more to talk about the next time Mark Carnaval is with us 92 PGA Tour rookie of the year and the Arnold Palmer award

Recipient as a result Carney always a pleasure thank you so much for your time always great to be with you Maddie take care