SCHEFFLER'S MIND OVER MATTER PROVIDES CUTTING EDGE AS HE SEEKS FEDEXCUP GLORY

WORLD NO. 1 LOOKS TO CAP MAGICAL SEASON BY SECURING THE PGA TOUR’S ULTIMATE PRIZE

- Jim McCabe

Were you to be blessed with the chance to speak for a good length of time with Randy Smith, the only golf teacher Scottie Scheffler has ever worked with, you would be afforded plenty of insight into what makes this dynamo tick. "He's relentless," said Smith. "I mean, always. He plays just as hard in PGA TOUR tournaments as he does when he plays with kids and members (at Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas). Trust me, he's giving 12 or 14 strokes to that banker and trying to beat him badly." So in the midst of another brilliant season by Scheffler - he has won six times before July 1, something even Tiger Woods didn't do, and is the overwhelming favourite to win the TOUR Championship and FedExCup it is worth studying how he is so much more than his golf swing. The Scheffler edge is simply built around his mental game.

"I feel like going out and competing has always been my best skill," said Scheffler. "When I'm focused on just competing, I think that's when I play my best. I think that will be my edge when I get kind of get immersed in the joy of competition."

To study his background is to come away convinced that you can teach a player the fundamentals with the swing and the idiosyncrasies of golf course management, but you cannot teach competitive fire. Most elite players have it to some level, but likely Scheffler was born with more of it than most.

Consider stories of vintage folklore that are sworn to be true by both Smith and Scheffler's "victims," players who were on the PGA TOUR during his fledgling days. The time, for instance when 10-year-old Scheffler asked Joel Edwards, who was there to get a lesson from Smith, if he wanted to try and hit a pole that was about 100 yards from the tee.