Scottie Scheffler is the best player on the planet, but not always the most popular.
Scheffler drew comparisons to Tiger Woods after his 2025 dominance, but his presence on the course is nothing like the 15-time major winner. When Woods was out there, a wave of roaring fans followed, and while there is support for Scheffler out there, it doesn’t manifest in the same way.
Some fans label Scheffler as boring. He doesn’t fist pump like Woods did, or show much emotion at all. At his best, he’s surgical, calm and composed.
Combine that with his speech before The Open Championship last year, where he weighed the importance of golf, and it’s obvious that he lacks the same flair and passion as some of the other greats that came before him.
That led Jordan Spieth to compare Scheffler to three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic before this year’s Players Championship, and the similarities between the two are uncanny.
Jordan Spieth explains why Scottie Scheffler reminds him of Nikola Jokic
Three-time major winner Spieth is a good friend of Scheffler, and they both play together in their home state of Texas. Few know the world number one better than Spieth, and he explained to Kay Adams and Up and Adams why he reminds him so much of Jokic.
He said, “Outside of my relationship with him, think of Nikola Jokic. Scottie’s like a very Unassuming MVP every season type situation. Doesn’t care about the fame. If he lived in Serbia, or whatever, he’d go back to his horse farm. That’s what he’d do.
“He just wants to go to his lake house with his friends and get away.”
He continued, “In general, when you get to that type of level, there’s so many demands, so many opportunities to make more money or whatever, and he doesn’t care about any of that stuff, which is unusual. More unusual today than it used to be I think.
“In terms of me with him, we play at home a lot. He’s super witty, quick, smart, but you can’t talk smack. He’ll get back at you better. He may come off as someone who’s crying when he wins, but you can’t go at him.
“You have to wait for your chances, and they’ll come, but you have to wait for them. And, I would also say most everybody looks unflappable when they’re finishing in the top five every single week. When you’re playing that well, it’s pretty easy to look that way.
“When you’re playing that well, it’s pretty easy to look that way. I used to be dubbed that too. It doesn’t stay that way forever. You gotta wait for your real good opportunities to get him, and you need some backup too because he’s pretty good at coming back at you.”
Why Jordan Spieth is right to compare Scottie Scheffler to Nikola Jokic
Spieth is exactly right to compare these two greats. Scheffler is often criticised for having an arm’s length relationship with golf. He clearly cares, but he has made clear that his priority lies first with his family and his religion, then with golf.
It’s a healthy relationship, and one that is clearly best for Scheffler, but it isn’t best for the game of golf. Woods’ relentless drive to win is what propelled the sport into a new stratosphere when it comes to its popularity, but Scheffler isn’t willing to give up so much for the game.
The same goes for Jokic in the NBA. A three-time MVP and NBA champion with the Denver Nuggets, Jokic has made clear that basketball is just a job for him. A job he happens to be the best in the world at.
He cares about the sport, of course. It’s impossible to reach the heights the Serbian has reached without dedicating yourself to your craft. But the happiest we have ever seen the superstar is when his horse won a race last summer.
It’s the healthiest way to approach sport, and Rory McIlroy admitted he’s jealous of Scheffler’s mindset in a recent interview, but we’d all like to see a little more emotion from both Scheffler and Jokic from time to time.
