British Open 2022: Scottie Scheffler delivers delicious backhanded dagger at the media ahead of the Open

Scottie Scheffler is widely regarded as an aw shucks, good ol' Southern boy type, which is part of the deal when you grew up in Texas, attended the University of Texas, and still live in Texas to this day. While he does lean into that persona, he's got some sneaky wit, too. Must be the New Jersey in him (Scheffler was born in the Garden State and lived there until he was six).

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That quick wit was on full display Wednesday at the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews, where Scheffler is looking to win his second major title this season. The Masters champion was informed that guys who have had success at Augusta National, i.e. Tiger, Jack, Zach Johnson, etc., have also fared well at the Old Course, something he hadn't realized prior to this week.

"That's actually a good point," Scheffler said. "I didn't think about that before. Those guys also won a ton of golf tournaments in a lot of places. So I think that's what's cool about some of these golf courses is you see great players win on them."

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Scheffler, the World No. 1, would classify as one of those great players, and could join the class of the truly elite should he go on to win this week. Despite that, he believes there isn't a ton of attention on him, much of it instead going to the likes of Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, who are attempting to end lengthy major championship droughts, or Xander Schauffele, who is looking to win his first major. Well, at least that's what Scheffler thinks is happening.

"I haven't read much," said Scheffler. "But I would assume not everybody's picking me to win this week, just stuff like that. I don't think I was the favourite maybe going into the Masters. I'm not sure if I've been the favourite maybe going into any tournaments. That may not be the true perception. That's just mine, but I don't read a ton of stuff. So for me I don't really feel like whatever being No. 1 would be."

Between those comments, and the fact Scheffler appeared blissfully unaware of the Augusta-St. Andrews connection, one reporter on site had to ask -- why don't you read more, Scottie?

"Well, just because I don't read what you guys write doesn't mean I don't read," he said. Mic Drop City, USA.

The consolation for those of us who cover the sport is that Scheffler doesn't just tune us out, he makes sure to tune everyone out that isn't a part of his inner circle, which we'd imagine is a rather large reason for his recent success.

"For me, staying off of social media, staying off of what you guys write -- I'm not saying you all write bad stuff about me or whoever it is, but your job is to write stories and be critical," he said. "That's something you have to do. So for me, having any extra noise inside my head, whether it be from people on social media saying, oh, maybe his swing stinks or whatever it is. I don't even know because I don't read it.

"There's no point to it because I'm either going to get too high or too low," Scheffler continued. "If I get on social media or if I start reading articles and everybody's like, 'hey, man, Scottie's the guy to beat this week. He's playing great golf even though I missed the cut last week. No. 1 in the world, yada, yada, yada.' I'm going to show up here like, oh, I'm the guy. Nobody's going to beat me this week. That's not what got me to where I am. What got me to where I am now is hard work and being prepared. For me, just staying away from all that stuff and just showing up and doing my thing is always what's worked best. Keeping the noise out is optimal."

Fair enough. Scottie handles the golf, we handle all the "yada, yada, yada" stuff. Good deal.

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