PGA Tour star 'avoiding' Scottie Scheffler after what happened between them
PGA Tour star 'avoiding' Scottie Scheffler after what happened between them
Sam Frost Fri, August 21, 2026 at 4:30 PM UTC
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Gary Woodland joked about 'avoiding' Scottie Scheffler at the BMW Championship -Credit:Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Gary Woodland joked that he is trying to "avoid" Scottie Scheffler at the BMW Championship after taking credit for the world No. 1's stunning performance at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Scheffler romped to an eight-shot victory at TPC Southwind in Memphis last week, proving he is the best player on the planet by a distance when firing on all cylinders. Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, believes he had a part to play in Scheffler's blowout victory,
The close friends practiced together in Dallas before heading to Tennessee for the PGA Tour's playoff opener, and Woodland says a playful barb about them both having one win this season came back to bite him. It comes as Rory McIlroy slammed Scheffler over his comment on LIV Golf stars returning to the PGA Tour.
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The 42-year-old said they shared "a lot" of banter during their time working with mutual swing coach Randy Smith, and Woodland joked that his services as a motivational speaker are "available for hire."
"I'm going to take a little credit for his win last week, because I was with him for four days in Dallas before we went to Memphis," Woodland said. "I was giving him a hard time that we had won the same amount this year. And he took care of that pretty quickly. He won by eight.
"So now I'm trying to avoid him a little bit. I told him, 'If all it takes is me talking, I'm available for hire, I'll talk.' But last week, that was something else."
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Woodland was in fine form on Thursday and holds a share of the lead -Credit:Alex Slitz/Getty Images
Scheffler entered the BMW Championship as a big favorite for the victory, but it is Woodland who holds a share of the lead in Missouri after the opening round.
He fired a six-under-par 64 to sit atop the leaderboard alongside Rory McIlroy, Wyndham Clark, J.J. Spaun and Chris Gotterup.
Scheffler, meanwhile, was surprisingly off color, finishing the day in a tie for 44th place at two over par. It could have been much worse for the world No. 1, who was four over midway through his round, but he reduced the damage late in his back nine.
A strong result for Woodland at Bellerive will see him qualify for next week's Tour Championship at East Lake. It would be an incredible achievement for a man who has been open about his battle with post-traumatic stress disorder since undergoing brain surgery in 2023.
"I'm proud of where I'm at right now," he said. "I can promise you East Lake wasn't on my mind to start the year. It's a goal, I think you write it down, but it seemed like far, far away.
"The game's just continued to grind. I've had up-and-down days. I've had some rough days lately. We've built this together, Randy and I, to get to a point where I feel very comfortable over the golf ball.
"If I can find a way to get through 18 holes mentally, my game's in a pretty good spot where I can compete out here at a level I haven't been able to compete in a while."
Meanwhile, Scheffler had the perfect response to Pat McAfee's explicit Ryder Cup plea.
Source: “AOL Sports”
