Scottie Scheffler has been in a relaxed and jovial mood throughout the start of a Masters week that could see him win a third title in four years.
The defending champion played a practice round with his mum on Sunday, then on Tuesday joked about trying to take out the competition with a cookery lesson.
The 28-year-old American was serving, among other things, ‘Papa Scheff’s’ meatball and ravioli bites as part of his traditional Champions Dinner menu on Tuesday evening and laughed when it was suggested he might ask the players to “make your own ravioli”.
It was while preparing homemade ravioli, using a wine glass to stamp out the dough, that Scheffler cut his hand on Christmas Day. It was an injury that required stitches and disrupted the start of his year.
“If I was trying to take out the competition, I would definitely do a demonstration, something along those lines, but yeah, hopefully avoid the injuries,” Scheffler joked.
“Maybe they’ll cut up my steak for me, I won’t have to use a knife or anything like that. We’ll see.”
Scheffler has also been dealing with a touch of hayfever, saying the pollen count is “a little worse than normal years”, adding, “but I feel good and ready to roll, sniffles aren’t going to stop me”.
The world number one is, unsurprisingly, favourite to don the Green Jacket again on Sunday. If he does, he will become just the fourth player after Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Sir Nick Faldo (1989-1990) and Tiger Woods (2001-2002) to win successive titles.
He would also equal record six-time champion Nicklaus’ feat of winning three in four years, after claiming his first title in 2022. Not that Scheffler seems too bothered by creating his own bit of history.
“I really don’t focus a lot on that stuff,” he said.
“I focus a lot on the preparation and getting ready to play. I try to have a good attitude and approach the shots the right way. And that’s what I define success as.
“When I step on the first tee on Thursday, I’m going to remind myself that I’ve done what I needed to do to play well, and it’s all about going out and competing.
“I really try not to look too much into the past. I try not to look too far into the future. I just like to stay in the present and just go one week at a time.”
And after a slow start to the year, Scheffler feels like he’s hitting form at just the right moment, with one major a month coming up for the next four months.
He finished joint runner-up in Houston two weeks ago after climbing the leaderboard with a seven-under-par 63 in the final round.
“This year, coming off an injury, was definitely a different feeling than I’ve had in the past few years,” he said.
“But this is definitely as prepared as I’ve felt going into any event this year and I’m excited to get the tournament going.”
