Scottie Scheffler’s scary change, Bryson DeChambeau’s broken driver and a couple epic golfer’s tans

Welcome to another edition of The Grind, where we can’t believe we’ve reached the end of our dozenth year doing this. And what a year it’s been from the dominance of Scottie and Nelly to the major excellence of Xander to the content gold of Bryson to the return of AK, and, yes, that viral hole-in-one by yours truly.

I still can’t believe that happened. Any of it. Adjusting to fame isn’t always easy, but I’ve handled it slightly better than Kenny Powers (I’m currently on an Eastbound & Down rewatch). Anyway, thanks as always for following along. Now let’s take one final spin around the golf world in 2024.

WE’RE BUYING

Scottie Scheffler: The Year of Scottie had to end this way, right? After not playing in more than three months, Scheffler returned to successfully defend his title at the Hero World Challenge, pulling away from a small but elite field on Sunday with a bogey-free 63 that pushed his yearly on-course earnings to $63 million.

Officially, Scheffler won seven PGA Tour titles in 2024, but that staggering total jumps to nine including the Hero and the Olympics. He’s won half of his last 18 starts. Crazy stuff. So it was only fitting for this Tiger-like season to conclude with Scottie getting a trophy from Tiger himself.

Talk about game respecting game.

Scottie’s new putting grip: This is the scariest part about Scheffler’s latest victory for his opponents? It was the first time he tried out a new claw putting grip. And it worked. Really well.

Scheffler finished third in strokes gained putting and first on putts from inside 10 feet, usually the only real weakness in his game. So look out, PGA Tour, because NOTHING CAN STOP THE CLAW! Right?! Anyone? “Liar Liar”?

Underrated movie! Regardless, the point is that if Scheffler’s putting has really improved with the claw, then Scottie might own the 2020s like Jim Carrey owned the 1990s.

Will Zalatoris’ diet: The dude was so skinny he says he's been purposely consuming 4,500 calories per day in an effort to bulk up by putting on 15 pounds and I couldn’t be more jealous! He could have just taken 15 from me.

Wait, most of those calories were protein? He wasn’t just sitting around all day stuffing his face with Doritos and Hershey Kisses? OK, so I’m not quite as jealous then. Still, if I was making a Christmas list this year, I’d ask Santa for Will’s metabolism first.

WE’RE SELLING

Robert MacIntyre’s first Tiger encounter: Two-and-a-half years before making his Hero World Challenge debut, MacIntyre crossed paths with Tiger after having to make the walk of shame back to the 11th tee box at the 2022 Masters. “I said to [my caddie] ‘Tiger is on the tee behind me, I can’t go back to it (laughing),'" he told The Scotsman's Martin Dempster. "But I went back and, yes, it was uncomfortable!” That’s a tough spot. But now he's hitting shots in front of Tiger as one of the GOAT's invited guests:

Congrats, Robert. You've come a long way.

Burned golf clubs: Yes, BURNED. That’s what happened to one man’s set of golf clubs somehow while flying on Delta recently.

Hey, that’s my putter! Poor guy. However, there’s at least a (sorta) happy ending as Delta (finally) agreed to pay him $4,000 in damages. Still, what an absolute nightmare. Any golf trip within 10 hours, you’ve gotta drive.

This guy: Authorities might need to conduct another big manhunt for whoever this dude destroying a green is:

Just a disgusting and despicable move. Seriously, lock him up!

ON TAP

The PGA Tour continues its silly season with the Grant Thornton Invitational, AKA that co-ed event first won last year by Jason Day and Lydia Ko. And on the DP World Tour, there’s the Alfred Dunhill Championship in South Africa, which is not to be confused with the Alfred Dunhill LINKS Championship in Scotland. And, of course, next week will be The Showdown at Shadow Creek, where Scottie and Rory McIlroy will represent the PGA Tour against LIV’s Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka. The golf season never stops!

Random tournament fact: Not only is Charl Schwartzel the only golfer to win the Alfred Dunhill Championship more than once, the South African has won it four times. He’s also finished runner-up a record five times. So, yeah, safe to say the 2011 Masters champ likes Leopard Creek Country Club!

RANDOM PROP BETS OF THE WEEK

—Scottie Scheffler would trade years with Xander Schauffele: 63 MILLION-to-1

—Charl Schwartzel will win this week: 22-1 odds (Actual odds, value!)

—I will put on a “Holidays 15” in the next month: LOCK

PHOTO(S) OF THE WEEK

We’re highlighting a pair of guys showing off some gnarly golfer’s tans. First, Caleb Surratt shedding his shirt to hit a shot in Saudi Arabia:

And then Robert MacIntyre relaxing on the beach in the Bahamas:

That guy must burn worse than those golf clubs.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

We’re guessing that round didn’t happen. Keep at it, though, Tin Cup!

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Here’s Mac Boucher with his own amazing take on a classic Phil Mickelson trick shot:

Even Phil would be impressed by that.

VIRAL VIDEO OF THE WEEK (BRYSON DIVISION)

Bryson DeChambeau’s brilliant hole-in-one challenge is over, but Golf’s Content King never rests. Here he is hitting his own trick shot with an assist from Kai Trump—although, now he needs to replace his driver.

That’s OK, he’s got plenty of time until the LIV season starts.

THIS WEEK IN PUBLIC DISPLAYS OF AFFECTION

We don’t blame you, Sahith. That’s big-time stuff. You’ve really made it.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“You ain’t got to shoot the fur off it.”—The one and only Boo Weekley. And it's even better when you actually hear him say it.

Told you.

THIS AND THAT

Congrats to Johannes Veerman on winning the Nedbank Challenge for his second career DP World Tour title. Often referred to as “Africa’s Major,” we’ll see if it can help the 32-year-old American get into his first major since 2021. . . . Patrick Reed once cited spending more time with his kids as a main reason for going to LIV. That same Patrick Reed just played three consecutive weeks in Hong Kong, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to get to 33 worldwide starts this year. . . . Jordan Doull went from even par to nine under and then all the way back to even par in the same round. Hey, you can’t call him Jordan DULL, am I right? . . . Speaking of things that aren't dull, we had new NHL HOFer Jeremy Roenick on The Loop podcast this week. He'll be captaining Team NHL at this week's inaugural Pro Cup at Innisbrook againt stars from the NBA, NFL and MLB. If a fight breaks out, we're betting on Roenick and Co. . . . And, finally, check out the newest ornament on our family Christmas tree:

After a dozen years of The Grind, you should have known I wasn’t going to end without one final mention of my hole-in-one! Happy holidays, everyone!

RANDOM QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Will I make another hole-in-one in 2025?

Should I try the claw grip in 2025?

Is “Liar Liar” streaming anywhere?