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Scottie Scheffler criticised for ‘naive’ and ‘ignorant’ Procore Championship press comments

Originally posted on HITC | By Antony Martin | Last updated Sep 11, 2025 8:16 AM ET

Scottie Scheffler is in Napa Valley this week for the Procore Championship, but it was his comments about the Ryder Cup that grabbed headlines on Wednesday.

Scheffler’s focus on staying present has long been a hallmark of his game, and it’s a big reason why he’s reached the top of golf. But with the Ryder Cup approaching, even he couldn’t avoid questions about it.

Every press conference over the past month has included talk of Bethpage Black, and this week in Napa was no different.

Scheffler has admitted that he wasn’t fully prepared for the 2023 event in Rome. This time around, though, things look different. The US team is playing competitively just two weeks before Bethpage Black kicks off.

He leads by example and always offers really insightful answers when asked questions by reporters. However, on Wednesday in Napa, Scheffler drew some criticism for something he said during his media session.

‘Naive’ Scottie Scheffler remarks before Procore Championship draw criticism

Scheffler faced the media in Napa on Wednesday ahead of the opening round of the Procore Championship.

During his press conference, one reporter noted: “As it relates to the tournament, it’s kind of weird to me because you’ve spoken for so many years now about staying present and one day at a time. I mean, you are here at a tournament, I figure your goal is to try to win this week, but it feels like your head is two weeks away.”

Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Scheffler replied: “Well, I can only answer the questions that get asked of me, Doug. To be fair to the Procore Championship, you guys have not been very fair to them in this room.”

The comments didn’t sit well with some in the media. Speaking on a Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard and Ryan Lavner both took issue with Scheffler’s remarks.

Hoggard said: “I was a little bit surprised. Scottie Scheffler was just in the media centre and he actually took a little bit of offence that he was six or seven questions in and nobody had actually asked him about the Procore Championship or what his expectations were.

Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images

“He made a point of saying, ‘is anyone going to ask me a tournament question,’ and the answer was no.

“This fall is going to be the most consequential in the history of PGA Tour because of scarcity of PGA Tour cards. We’re not talking about that now; we’re not going to talk about that until we get RSM Classic because of Ryder Cup.

Lavner added: “Scottie wasn’t quite as snipey as he was at BMW Championship where he bristled with reporters. That was a little bit different, I guess; it was the second FedEx Cup Playoff event; I get it.

Why context matters with Scottie Scheffler’s procore Championship remarks

To begin with, Scheffler spent a good deal of time discussing the Ryder Cup before anyone even brought up the Procore Championship.

If you look back at the interview, he fielded 13 questions about the Ryder Cup before shifting to discuss the Procore in response to the 14th question.

So it wasn’t as if he was naive enough to think that his press conference would mostly center around the Procore Championship.

The other bit of context that is essential to understand here is that Scheffler actually made the remarks highlighted above in a light-hearted, somewhat jovial manner.

This article first appeared on HITC and was syndicated with permission.

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