Brandt Snedeker has praised Scottie Scheffler for how he handled learning that he was sitting out the Saturday afternoon session at the Presidents Cup.
It has been yet another tough week for Scheffler while representing Team USA. Although he has won two of his three matches at Medinah, the world number one has been nowhere near his best. For example, Data Golf shows that Scheffler lost 2.89 strokes with his approach play on Saturday morning alone.
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So it was not entirely surprising that Snedeker decided to leave Scheffler out of the lineup for Saturday afternoon in Illinois. However, it was clearly a significant gamble with the International Team leading 8.5-5.5.
Ultimately, it appeared that the risk backfired. The Internationals maintained their three-point lead heading into the singles after winning two of the four matches. Both Russell Henley and Jacob Bridgeman will go into Sunday still looking to make their first contribution to the score all week.
Nevertheless, Snedeker explained in his press conference after Saturday that he felt it was important that Scheffler was not sent out again.
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“Scottie took it great. I couldn’t get to him before, so the TV people told him before I could get to him. Scottie is a team guy. He wants whatever is best for this team. He’d run through a wall for all those guys in that room. He took it like a champ,” he said.
“I told him to get some rest, get some treatment, be out there. I feel like sometimes in years past we’ve kind of run him into the ground. So get out there tomorrow and kind of get after it.”
Scheffler’s record this week does not reflect how he has performed. All three of the matches he has played so far have at least reached the 17th hole. His match on Saturday morning could have easily gone another way had Hideki Matsuyama and Ryo Hisatsune been more ruthless on the greens.
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Unfortunately for Team USA, this week’s performance from Scheffler is not an anomaly. He has a very poor record across the Presidents Cup and the Ryder Cup when you consider just how dominant he is on the PGA Tour.
As Snedeker explained his thinking behind sitting Scheffler out of the afternoon, he suggested that the pressure of being the team talisman is difficult to handle.
“I had some ideas about Scottie puts the world on his shoulders, and he puts his whole team on his shoulders and takes a lot on. I was really trying to get him some energy for tomorrow. I know tomorrow is going to be a big day,” he said.
“It’s obviously a tough decision, really hard decision to sit the best player in the world and probably one of the best players I’ve ever seen in person. I just want to put him in the best situation tomorrow to go out there and have a great day and get some rest.”
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Scheffler will face off against Nico Echavarria on Sunday, with Geoff Ogilvy keeping most of his best performers for later in the lineup.
Win or lose, there have been all sorts of mistakes made by Team USA which have led to this moment where the Internationals are on the verge of a historic victory.
Perhaps the most significant mistake ahead of next year’s Ryder Cup is letting another week pass where no one is any the wiser as to how you get the best out of Scottie Scheffler.
