Talking Golf With The GolfGuy Season 7 Episode Three-With 2022 Masters Champion Scottie Scheffler
in Archives, Blog, Masters, Podcasts by Jeff Waters

Talking Golf With The GolfGuy Season 7 Episode Three-With 2022 Masters Champion Scottie Scheffler

The beauty, grandeur, magnificence, and brilliance of the Master’s Golf Tournament, contested the first full week of April each year in Augusta, Georgia, has become a rite of passage for adoring sports fans worldwide.

Augusta National

This annual celebration of spring which heralds the beginning of the golf season worldwide offers up a juxtaposition of the visionary, competitive virtuosity of Bobby Jones, the business acumen of Master’s co-founder Clifford Roberts, the architectural genius of Augusta National’s golf course designer Alister McKenzie, and the athletic forte and skill of the greatest players in the world when taken as the whole, has created scintillating theater unmatched in contemporary sports history.

This year’s iteration contested April 7-11, 2022, after a two-year hiatus with limited spectator and media participation due to COVID-19 restrictions, exceeded expectations, and delivered a Master’s performance worthy of the ages to take its place in the pantheon of Master’s folklore and tradition.

The week began with social media reports of the return of the King,

The early and prominent storylines were all about Tiger Woods. Could he play? Could he play?

As tournament week unfolded, those inquiries grew in prominence and echoed throughout the towering pines and rolling hills, building clamor and volume, expanding across the course and practice area.

Patrons nursed the question. Players, officials, and media alike begged for answers, praying it might be true.

All were wondering, could the stress and toll on Tiger’s reconstructed forty-six-year-old body after a lifetime of professional golf, multiple and significant surgeries, coupled with the grueling rehabilitation from his near-fatal car wreck less than two years before, allow his broken and aging body the strength and mobility to navigate the severe undulations and steep hills of the Augusta National?

That question would not be answered until just a little before 11:00 AM Thursday when Tiger finally emerged from the stately and iconic antebellum clubhouse that predates the Civil War and approached the first tee to a packed and adoring fairway lined with appreciative fans.

Yes, the hopes and prayers of golf fans worldwide would be answered.

The five-time Master’s Champion did not disappoint his legion of vocal and cheering supporters, opening with a 1-under 71, tying for ninth place.

On Friday, he gutted out a 74, falling from 10th place to 19th while making his 22nd consecutive cut at the Master’s, the third-longest streak in tournament history.

His storybook comeback could falter on the weekend as his aching body would struggle in the wet and chilly conditions, shooting 78-78 to finish 47th. Still, he would leave no doubt about his courage, fortitude, and character while giving his worshiping fans a glimpse of his incredible talent and his enduring gift to the sport of golf.

Tiger could not win this Master’s, and it is doubtful at this stage of his career he’ll ever contend in another and win his sixteenth Professional Major, leaving Jack Nicklaus the undisputed leader in Major Championships and arguably the greatest Professional Golfer of all time. However, Tiger has 82 professional wins tying him with Sam Sead in that category, leaving his legacy and record as the second greatest of all-time indisputable.

Masters Champion Scottie Scheffler

Nevertheless, records are made to be broken, the old is always replaced by the new, and aging athletes always fade away. It is the nature of sports. And this delayed Master’s confirms and reinforces this absolute truism.

There is a new contender to the throne of Best in the World.

This week, a longtime record of Tiger’s was shattered with newcomer Scottie Scheffler’s assault on number one in the world golf rankings, attaining that rank at 25 years old, just 42 days after his first PGA Tour win. It took Tiger 252 days to obtain that ranking.

With Schettler’s win at the Masters, that reign, and record, might stand for a while.

Scottie Scheffler is the hottest golfer on the planet, has been groomed, trained, prepared, coached, and now checks all the boxes for continued superstardom and longevity on the Professional Tours.

A golf prodigy and blueblood product of the Texas golf factories that have produced countless Junior golfers, Amateur Champions, Collegiate All-Americans, USGA team members, and PGA Tour Winners, he is now the newest Masters Champion, becoming the tenth Texan to win the Green Jacket. He is just the fifth player to win this tournament as the #1 player in the world, including Tiger Woods twice. This victory is his fourth of the 2022 season, making him the first golfer since Arnold Palmer in 1960 to win that many events, including the Masters.

It is his fourth win in his last four starts on the PGA Tour. Does anyone believe that will end anytime soon?

Scottie Scheffler is the real deal and the next Megastar in the world of Professional Golf, and he is not going away anytime soon.

I attended his final press conference on Sunday evening after the closing ceremonies at the Augusta National media center.

Please listen here to that interview.

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With over a half-century of engagement in the sport of Golf, Jeff Waters has become one of the most accomplished, experienced, and qualified Golf Professionals in the history of the PGA of America. He is a fully certified and trained Master Professional joining an exceedingly small and elite group of Professionals in the World to have achieved this prestigious title. Jeff holds University Degrees in Political Science, Teaching Minors in Economics and Finance, attended graduate school in Commercial Recreation, taught undergraduate classes at the University of Utah, and earned a master’s in business administration. With more than fifty years of experience and success in the business of Golf, Jeff spent ten years playing and competing in the game at all levels ten years laboring as an Assistant Golf Professional, acquiring the job-related skills, responsibilities, and training required for a career in golf, ten years fulfillment as a PGA Head Professional overseeing all aspects of the total golf course operation, three years’ service as Director of Player Development for Salt Lake County Parks and Recreation, administering and managing multiple golf course programs and activities, thirty-three years as a Golf Coach and Instructor at The Rocky Mountain Golf Academy, The University of Utah’s College of Health and the Granite Peaks Community College, teaching and tutoring the game. Additionally, Jeff has spent the last twenty-seven years as the Owner, President, and CEO of Rocky Mountain Golf Enterprises (RMG), a Utah-registered and licensed business offering golf-related services throughout the Western United States utilizing golf as the marketing tool. Finally, Jeff has performed on the national media stage for the past thirty-eight years as an Announcer, Author, Producer, and Talk Radio Host, communicating and sharing the joy, art, and skill that is the Game, Sport, and Challenge of Golf. Jeff, a well-known golf journalist, has been active in print media from an early age. His articles, commentary, and features regularly appear nationwide. He has authored two golf instruction books: “The Ten Commandments of Golf, Proven Principles That Make Your Golf Game Better,” and “The Short Game, the Transition from the Golf Course to the Putting Green.” Both are available as e-book downloads and on Amazon. Jeff penned his first short story while still in his teens and has since published 100’s of commentaries, essays, and instruction pieces in magazines, blogs, internet forums, and other platforms, including Golf Today, Utah Golf Magazine, Utah Golf News, Rocky Mountain Golfer, Fairways Magazine, Jackson Hole Golf News, Talking Golf with the Golf Guy, Voices in the Community.com, and Jeffgolfguy.com. He is the author of multiple books, stories, articles, posts, and evaluations of other writers’ publications. Jeff began his public communications career in High School and has had a constant presence in sports commentary throughout the years, providing play-by-play and color analysis at many diverse levels, including announcing football, baseball, and basketball games, along with local and national golf tournaments, while performing on other media platforms as well. Jeff was an early pioneer in Sports Radio, hosting a weekly talk show, “Talking Golf with the Golf Guy,” broadcasted and aired on various radio stations throughout the regional market, syndicated nationally on The Rocky Mountain Golf Network, and offered on most of the recognized podcast directories and streaming services. Over his extensive announcing career, Jeff has provided the vocal narration for hundreds of voice-overs, commercials, radio programming, sports interviews, tournament updates, blogs, podcasts, audiobooks, and videos, including the original voice work on the best-selling X-Box Links golf game. Jeff also contributed voice and commentary on the Centennial production, “One Hundred Years of the Utah State Amateur,” which is available on iTunes and Apple Music. As a member of the Golf Writers Association of America, Jeff has attended and reported on-site more than a hundred golf tournaments, including an assortment of Major Golf Championships, including The United States Open Championship, The Masters, the PGA Championship, and The Ryder Cup, along with other competitions on the PGA Tours annual tournament schedule. Jeff has produced, directed, and distributed numerous film and video projects as stand-alone presentations while incorporating them within his blog, website, syndicated podcasts, and national radio programming. All are available for review on YouTube. Known as “The Voice of Golf” and “The Golf Guy” throughout the Western United States, Jeff is regularly sought for advice and counsel and often speaks to groups on golf-related subjects. You may contact Jeff by email at jeffgolfguy@att.net and on his website at www.jeffgolfguy.com.