The PGA tour had a $36m problem. A dramatic arrest may have just solved it

The world’s best golfer, Scottie Scheffler, is in the middle of a patch of form so good that to call it a golden run seems an embarrassing understatement.

He’s the best player on the planet and there’s daylight second.

He might be the most dominant player in any individual sport in the world right now – though Iga Swiatek can make a case on the back of her French Open crown last week.

Scheffler last weekend won the Jack Nicklaus Memorial Tournament, his fifth victory of 2024 already. Not since Tom Watson in 1980 has any player won five tournaments before the US Open, which takes place this weekend with Scheffler an almost unbackable favourite.

Scheffler has amassed a staggering pot of prizemoney, more than $24 million ($36 million AUD) heading into the third major of the year.

And the list of events he’s winning is about as prestigious as it gets: the Memorial, Masters, Players Championship and Arnold Palmer Invitational as well as the RBC Heritage. Five big events – and five wins from his last eight tournaments.

The three weeks he didn’t win? He finished runner-up twice and tied for eighth at the PGA Championship.

But that last result – his worst of the season – might end up being the most important of the lot.

Because for all of his brilliance, Scheffler has a problem. Or more accurately, the PGA Tour has a problem with Scheffler.

He’s not the most marketable superstar.

At a time when golf’s civil war has torn apart the game for two years, the PGA Tour is desperate for a public relations boost. And yet ever since LIV blew up the golfing world in 2022, the best player on the PGA Tour has been a devout Catholic, a quietly-spoken family man who never makes a headline for the wrong reasons.

Sure, he’s fiercely competitive, but he’s unlikely to snap a club after a poor shot (like Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, or Patrick Reed for example). He’s not likely to be repeatedly accused of cheating (Reed, again), destroying a golf course (Sergio Garcia) or even loudly swearing (Tiger Woods, or Jon Rahm at this year’s Masters roaring “Go F*** yourself. Every drive on the back nine to the f***ing right. God damn, f**k”).

Scheffler does none of this. He just turns up to a golf course, and more often than not, he wins.

There’s an increasing sense of inevitability when it comes to Scheffler these days. Even when rivals play well – or better than well – they can’t keep up with him. Scheffler just grinds his way to victory.

It was the same with peak Tiger Woods – only his larger-than-life personality made it must-watch TV. The Tiger Woods phenomenon brought golf to the masses. It’s safe to say that Scheffler lacks much of that cut-through.

It’s a shame, really. Scheffler’s a brilliant player, a supreme competitor, and ¬seemingly a good person to boot. He’s just had his first child – then turned around and won another tournament.

But that sense of inevitability, combined with his no-fuss personality, has led to descriptions of Scheffler as ‘boring’.