When you’re around as long as Golf Digest has been—the magazine was founded in 1950—you’re going to make many a prediction. Some have been right, some have been far from it. (Don’t look into it.) But we’re still chugging along, claiming that this guy will be the first this and this woman will be the first that.
Back in August 2014, Ron Kaspriske spoke with a 6’3” 170-pound wunderkind named Scottie Scheffler. Perhaps you’ve heard of him. At the time he was an 18-year-old who had won the U.S. Junior Amateur and was just a few months away from starting his college career at the University of Texas.
We asked the question, “Is he the next Jordan Spieth?” He was following in Spieth’s footsteps, a Texas amateur with high-profile résumé on his was to UT in Austin and a seemingly certain All-American college career. Well, a Masters, two Players Championships and a hell of a lot of good golf later, we feel pretty comfortable in saying that we nailed this one.
(Golf Digest+ members get access to the complete Golf Digest archive dating back to 1950. Sign up here.)
Scheffler is still two majors shy of Spieth, but it’s looking like he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with on the PGA Tour for quite some time, even if he admitted in our Q&A that he would rather watch basketball than golf.
A basketball junkie, Scheffler had a lot to say about hoops. “I was the short kid on my teams until I grew, like, 12 inches my sophomore year in high school. The other day I was playing with my friend Derek Cahn, who is going to play basketball for Texas A&M next year. I made 20 three-pointers in a row. I beat him in H-O-R-S-E.”
Of course, the golf is what matters, most notably an unbelievable practice round he described to us in which the teen shot “60 with three bogeys.” He also shouted out his sister (and caddie) Callie for a hole-in-one during his tour debut at the 2014 AT&T Byron Nelson.
An ace in his TOUR debut 💯
17-year-old Scottie Scheffler made a hole-in-one at the 2014 @ATTByronNelson with his sister on the bag. pic.twitter.com/7YBd4yRJfw
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 11, 2022
“I was pretty ticked off on the tee box because I had just missed short putts on No. 18 and No. 1. [He started on the 10th hole.] My sister Callie was caddieing for me, and she clubbed me [5-iron]. I hit it really good, and we could see it and hear everyone yelling for it to go in. When it did, everyone went crazy. My sister joked that at least I didn’t have to putt it.”
It’s wild to see Scheffler’s shaky putting exist as a family joke a decade ago. That aspect of his game has been suspect from time to time, and yet, he’s still winning tournaments.
Check out the rest of the interview—from Scheffler’s love affair with Torchy’s Tacos to a time he should’ve won a new car—at the Golf Digest Archive. There’s so much good stuff in there, going all the way back to our issues from the 1950s.
More on scottie scheffler 
Golf Digest Video ‘A really down-to-earth guy’: An at-home visit with Scottie Scheffler reveals a star who doesn’t act like one 
’11 more years’ Players Championship: Scottie Scheffler shouts out Tiger Woods’ fan heckle after winning at TPC Sawgrass 
Cover story ‘It’s not my life’: Scottie Scheffler on focus, patience, and his keys to better ball-striking
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
