Scottie Scheffler was merely a promising amateur the first time he played in Memphis.

It was 2014, and Scheffler was a 17-year-old standout at Highland Park High School in Dallas, with three state championships to his credit and fresh off a tie for 22nd at that year’s Byron Nelson Championship as he attempted to qualify for the U.S. Open. Scheffler didn’t make it through qualifying that year but since then, the disappointments have been rare.

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And the world’s No. 1-ranked player and the top player in the FedEx Cup standings has learned something about himself in the interim: Winning suits him.

“I want to continue to play good golf,” he said Tuesday. “I’ve been able to accomplish a lot this year and get to No. 1. I’ve had a pretty big lead in the FedEx Cup for a while now, (and) I want to continue to do it. It’s fun. I like being No. 1 in the world; I like being at the top of the FedEx Cup.

“Those things are fun for me. It’s enjoyable so I just want to continue to improve on that.” 

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Scheffler’s play throughout the 2022 season indicates he doesn’t plan to give up the top spot any time soon. It’s also the main reason he’s one of the favorites heading into this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first round of the Cup playoffs.

The 26-year-old bagged his first career major in April, finishing at 10-under 278 to win the Masters by three strokes over Rory McIlroy. Scheffler’s victory in Augusta capped a torrid stretch that began with a win in Phoenix on Feb. 13. That was followed by a victory at the the Arnold Palmer Invitational three weeks later and another win at WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play event three weeks after that.

That run vaulted him to the top of the golf world, and Scheffler has gripped it like a 9-iron ever since. The Phoenix victory was his first on the PGA Tour and since then, the floodgates have opened as his confidence has grown.

“I always kind of believed winning was a skill that you had,” he said. “I still do believe that because I was able to win in junior golf, I was able to win on the Korn Ferry Tour. It took me a little bit of time to win out here, (but) I always knew I had that skill and I believed in myself.” 

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Much of that belief was instilled in him by his parents, who gave him a set of plastic clubs when he was just three years old. Scheffler took to the game immediately, winning 75 tournaments as a junior.

Upon entering high school, Scheffler experienced a major growth spurt with added strength to his considerable skill. Two years after his the 2014 trip to Memphis, he qualified for his first U.S. Open and after a stellar season on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2019, he earned his PGA Tour status.

Scheffler makes it look easy but it hasn’t always been.

“I feel like over the course of my career I’ve tried to get a little bit better, and I’ve always been a guy that puts in the work,” he said. “The practice part of it for me has always been the fun part. I like going out there by myself, going to the golf course and practicing.

“I think this year I’ve been able to see those results pay off. A lot of time when you’re putting in the work, you’re not going to see the results that next week. You’re going to see the results further down the road.”

Further down for Scheffler after this week is a possible player of the year award. For his part, he says it would be a “tremendous honor” but beyond that, he acknowledges that he is not even sure how the voting works.

“I can’t control stuff like that,” he said. “All I can do is try to show up and do my best.” 

Despite the success, in some ways Scheffler is still that high school kid who teed it up at U.S. Qualifier eight years ago. After all, how many adults steadfastly refuse to wash their vehicle, like Scheffler does, with his trusty GMC Yukon that’s creeping up on 200,000 miles?

“I don’t know if it’s worthy of me washing,” Scheffler said. “It gets me from place to place ... going back in time, I definitely didn’t imagine myself in this position. I was never one to really look too far ahead.”