U.S. Open 2025: The ridiculous reason Scottie Scheffler had to delete his Venmo

OAKMONT, Pa. — There is so much of substance to talk about when it comes to Scottie Scheffler in June 2025, most of it revolving around his excellent play. Fresh off his win at the PGA Championship, and another at the Memorial, he's as heavy a favorite as you can find in golf coming into this week's U.S. Open. But on Tuesday, the most memorable part of his press conference at Oakmont Country Club was only tangentially related to golf.

Instead, it was about his Venmo account.

The information came slightly out of the blue, when a reporter asked him a fairly standard question about being a player in the modern game: Do fans ever let him know when they have money riding on him?

"I think everybody hears from fans whether they have a financial benefit or anything in their outcome," Scheffler said, before dropping his bomb. "That's why I had to get rid of my Venmo because I was either getting paid by people or people requesting me a bunch of money when I didn't win. It wasn't a good feeling."

This piqued the interest of almost everyone in the room, and it wasn't long before the obvious follow-up: What kind of money are we talking here?

"I don't remember the most that somebody would send me," he said. "Maybe a couple bucks here or there. That didn't happen nearly as much as the requests did."

Unfortunately, there wasn't time to ask how anybody knew his Venmo name, or why his account was public in the first place. That part of the story will have to remain a mystery for now, and we sort of wish the entire thing had stayed in the dark. There are more than a few objectionable things about the modern world, and the idea that there are people out there demanding money from athletes after they lose? That joins the list.

In better news, Scheffler appeared confident about his chances, and was grateful for the week off between his Memorial win and the U.S. Open. That wasn't the case last year, when he had to go right from Ohio to Pinehurst, where he had one of the worst major finishes of his career (T-41). Now he feels like he knows the course, and at least one distraction that haunted him last time he was here, in his first ever major, at age 20 in 2016, won't get him this time around.

Back then, Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors were playing LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, and he wanted to get home in time watch. That won't be a problem this time around.

"Ever since the Mavs traded Luka [Doncic], I've been a little bummed watching the NBA," he said. "Hurts a little bit still."

But not quite as bad as coming off a hard loss and seeing a bunch of Venmo requests from the nation's degenerates, apparently.