Aug 18, 2024; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Scottie Scheffler performs his shot from the primary tee throughout the ultimate spherical of the FedEx St. Jude Championship golf match at TPC Southwind. Necessary Credit score: Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports activities No impediment appears too massive this yr for Scottie Scheffler, the World No. 1 with six wins on the PGA Tour together with the Masters, plus his gold medal on the Paris Olympics.
This week, nonetheless, he’s within the mountains of Colorado. The BMW Championship, the PGA Tour’s second occasion of the FedEx Cup playoffs, will likely be performed in skinny air at a tour-record 8,130 yards lengthy at Fortress Pines Golf Membership in Fortress Rock, Colo.
Scheffler was requested Wednesday about acclimating to the altitude, and he credited a household trip in July in Telluride, Colo., which he mentioned is “slightly bit larger” than Fortress Rock. Telluride is 8,754 toes above sea degree, whereas Fortress Pines checks in at 6,332.
“… the elevation obtained to me slightly bit,” Scheffler mentioned. “So I am type of glad I obtained it out of the way in which then as a result of I’ve struggled with it every so often.”
He referenced his days on the Korn Ferry Tour, lengthy earlier than his domination on the PGA Tour, with tournaments in Colorado and “fairly excessive elevation” in Bogota, Colombia (almost 9,000 toes).
“… I keep in mind sleeping actually unhealthy the primary few nights,” Scheffler mentioned. “You’ve actually bizarre goals and also you get up in the midst of the night time feeling like you’ll be able to’t breathe and simply bizarre stuff.
“I felt like that have taking part in at slightly bit larger altitude has type of helped me modify to this week,” he continued. “I used to be figuring out within the fitness center (on Tuesday) and I used to be undoubtedly getting out of breath rather a lot sooner than I’d at house, however I really feel like I am doing a very good job of getting adjusted, after which the quantity stuff is one thing that we have had a system that has labored respectable over the previous few years, and hoping it continues to work this week.”
The “quantity stuff” is monitoring and analyzing the motion of a golf ball in flight by a transportable machine akin to TrackMan Golf. Scheffler mentioned that he and his caddie Ted Scott do not change the settings on the machine no matter their location.
“Teddy has a manner that I am not going to expose as a result of I feel we do a extremely good job of creating positive we’re pin excessive rather a lot, type of it doesn’t matter what the circumstances are,” Scheffler mentioned. “That is one thing that I depend on him fairly closely for.”
Photographs determine to journey farther this week than at a extra typical altitude on tour. The Fortress Rock course could have 400 toes of elevation change.
“So this week he is doing a number of the maths,” Scheffler mentioned of Scott. “We now have our numbers and the way far the ball goes right here, and we nonetheless have our numbers at house. So we’ve two methods we’re attempting to do it, relying on the shot, simply to the place I do know that I can get comfy with the shot we’re attempting to hit.
“So a few of that’s I’ve a inventory variety of what the membership goes right here. So if my 8-iron goes 165 at house, for example it will go like low 180s right here, one thing like that.”
Scheffler defined that variables can embrace the time of day, or how lengthy the ball is within the air. Uphill pictures spent much less time within the air, for instance. Downhill pictures will likely be affected by a bigger share, he mentioned.
“There’s a number of work that goes into it, so it is a fairly large adjustment for us,” Scheffler mentioned.
Ludvig Aberg, who’s making his BMW Championship debut, famous the variations the gamers face this week. The sector of the highest 50 gamers within the factors standings try to advance to subsequent week, when the highest 30 compete for the Tour Championship in lower-elevation Atlanta (about 1,000 toes most).
“It presents some challenges for positive a golf course at sea degree does not,” Aberg mentioned Wednesday of Fortress Pines. “The golf course is admittedly fairly, very stunning. However it’s fairly the stroll.”
Aberg instructed his caddie, Joe Skovron, that he does not suppose they will have a number of conversations whereas strolling up hills. They’re going to be specializing in respiratory.
“Enjoying at elevation or at altitude is slightly little bit of a problem, relying on the window that you simply play it, and that is what I felt like these first couple days we actually tried to get a baseline of these issues,” Aberg mentioned. “Then, clearly, it should have an effect on if you happen to knock it down slightly bit or get it up within the air.
“However I attempt to maintain it very comparable. I do not attempt to complicate it. Attempt to simplify it and make it similar to how I deal with a standard match.”
–Discipline Degree Media
