Scottie Scheffler accused of making ‘naive’ and ‘ignorant’ comments ahead of the Procore Championship

Scottie Scheffler is in Napa Valley right now for the Procore Championship but some comments he made in response to questions about the Ryder Cup on Wednesday really caught the eye.

Scheffler is well known for being the very best in the game at remaining in the present, and that is probably why he has been so successful over the past few years.

However, with the Ryder Cup on the horizon, the 29-year-old has been taken out of his comfort zone somewhat.

Every press conference he has sat through over the past month or so has been dominated by talk of the upcoming showpiece event at Bethpage Black, including his appearance in the media room at the Procore Championship.

Scheffler has admitted that he didn’t prepare well enough for the Ryder Cup back in 2023 in Rome.

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That has all changed this year, with the US Ryder Cup team playing competitive golf just two weeks before the event at Bethpage begins.

And it has been claimed that Scheffler has taken on a leadership role in the US Ryder Cup team room.

He leads by example and always offers really insightful answers when asked questions by reporters.

However, the world number one has actually received criticism for something he said in Napa on Wednesday.

Scottie Scheffler made ‘naive’ comments ahead of the Procore Championship

Scheffler addressed the world’s press in Napa on Wednesday ahead of the start of the Procore Championship on Thursday.

At one point in his press conference he was asked the following question by a reporter:

“As it relates to the tournament, it’s kind of weird to me because you’ve spoken for so many years now about staying present and one day at a time. I mean, you are here at a tournament, I figure your goal is to try to win this week, but it feels like your head is two weeks away.“

Scheffler responded by saying: “Well, I can only answer the questions that get asked of me, Doug.

“To be fair to the Procore Championship, you guys have not been very fair to them in this room.“

And now, during a Golf Channel Podcast, he has received criticism from golf journalists Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner for those comments, perhaps unfairly so.

Hoggard said: “I was a little bit surprised. Scottie Scheffler was just in the media centre, and he actually took a little bit of offence that he was six or seven questions in and nobody had actually asked him about the Procore Championship or what his expectations were.

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“He made a point of saying, ‘is anyone going to ask me a tournament question’, and the answer was no.

“This fall is going to be the most consequential in the history of the PGA Tour, because of the scarcity of PGA Tour cards. We’re not talking about that now, we’re not going to talk about that until we get to the RSM Classic because of the Ryder Cup.

“It is 100 per cent the content gift that keeps on giving. There’s a reason why 10 of the 12 US players are here this week in Napa Valley and it’s not because of the Procore Championship, which is a great event, but the Ryder Cup is going to dominate the conversation for the next month if not more, depending on how things play out at Bethpage.

“I think most of the players and coaches, and certainly Keegan Bradley, have embraced that. Even Bryson DeChambeau is here in Napa, he went to the team dinner last night, so you get the idea of how important this is to him.“

Before Lavner chimed in to the debate.

He said: “Scottie wasn’t quite as snipey as he was at the BMW Championship, where he bristled with reporters. That was a little bit different I guess, it was the second FedEx Cup Playoff event, I get it.

Lavner: “But it just seems a little bit naive, a little bit ignorant not to wonder why we have about half dozen national media members who will probably be gone by Friday once they’re done gathering the content they need for the Ryder Cup. You can’t possibly think that we are all here to cover the Procore Championship, the first of seven fall events.“

Context matters with Scottie Scheffler’s comments at the Procore Championship

Firstly, it must be said that Scheffler spoke at length about the Ryder Cup before the Procore Championship was even mentioned by reporters.

In fact, if you watch his interview, he was asked 13 questions about the Ryder Cup and in response to the 14th he finally opened up on the Procore.

So it wasn’t as if he was naive enough to think that his press conference would mostly center around the Procore Championship.

The other bit of context that is essential to understand here is that Scheffler actually made the remarks highlighted above in a light-hearted, somewhat jovial manner.

Context, as always, matters immensely, and Hoggard and Lavner have been unfairly critical of Scheffler here in my opinion.