Scottie Scheffler loves winning golf tournaments - but he loves Jesus more

After his victory at the US Masters this weekend, the world’s number one golfer told journalists that golf was only the fourth most important thing in his life. The first, he said, was God. What a freeing way to live, says Jonny Reid

Scottie Scheffler is very good at golf. Insanely good. He’s the world number one and now the reigning US Masters champion. He’s also incredibly competitive. So much so it makes him feel sick.

“I was sitting around with my buddies this morning, I was a bit overwhelmed,” Scheffler said on Sunday evening. “I told them: ‘I wish I didn’t want to win as badly as did I - or as badly as I do. I think it would make the mornings easier.’

“I love winning. I hate losing. I really do”, he continued. “And when you’re here in the biggest moments, when I’m sitting there with the lead on Sunday, I really, really want to win badly.”

It is striking to then read that Scheffler says his golf is soon to be the fourth most important thing in his life. It is his job. It has been his whole mission for decades to be the best golfer in the world and, yet, in his press conference he spoke about how his faith, his wife and his soon-to-be-born child are all more important to him than winning golf tournaments.