Entertainment
Jordan Spieth is exactly right to compare Scottie Scheffler to Nikola Jokic
Scottie Scheffler is the best player on the planet, but not always the most popular.
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Join us on WhatsAppScheffler drew comparisons to Tiger Woods after his 2025 dominance, but his presence on the course is nothing like the 15-time major winner. When Woods was out there, a wave of roaring fans followed, and while there is support for Scheffler out there, it doesn’t manifest in the same way.
Some fans label Scheffler as boring. He doesn’t fist pump like Woods did, or show much emotion at all. At his best, he’s surgical, calm and composed.
Combine that with his speech before The Open Championship last year, where he weighed the importance of golf, and it’s obvious that he lacks the same flair and passion as some of the other greats that came before him.
That led Jordan Spieth to compare Scheffler to three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic before this year’s Players Championship, and the similarities between the two are uncanny.
Jordan Spieth explains why Scottie Scheffler reminds him of Nikola Jokic
Three-time major winner Spieth is a good friend of Scheffler, and they both play together in their home state of Texas. Few know the world number one better than Spieth, and he explained to Kay Adams and Up and Adams why he reminds him so much of Jokic.
“In terms of me with him, we play at home a lot. He’s super witty, quick, smart, but you can’t talk smack. He’ll get back at you better. He may come off as someone who’s crying when he wins, but you can’t go at him.
“You have to wait for your chances, and they’ll come, but you have to wait for them. And, I would also say most everybody looks unflappable when they’re finishing in the top five every single week. When you’re playing that well, it’s pretty easy to look that way.
“When you’re playing that well, it’s pretty easy to look that way. I used to be dubbed that too. It doesn’t stay that way forever. You gotta wait for your real good opportunities to get him, and you need some backup too because he’s pretty good at coming back at you.”
Why Jordan Spieth is right to compare Scottie Scheffler to Nikola Jokic
Spieth is exactly right to compare these two greats. Scheffler is often criticised for having an arm’s length relationship with golf. He clearly cares, but he has made clear that his priority lies first with his family and his religion, then with golf.
It’s a healthy relationship, and one that is clearly best for Scheffler, but it isn’t best for the game of golf. Woods’ relentless drive to win is what propelled the sport into a new stratosphere when it comes to its popularity, but Scheffler isn’t willing to give up so much for the game.
The same goes for Jokic in the NBA. A three-time MVP and NBA champion with the Denver Nuggets, Jokic has made clear that basketball is just a job for him. A job he happens to be the best in the world at.
He cares about the sport, of course. It’s impossible to reach the heights the Serbian has reached without dedicating yourself to your craft. But the happiest we have ever seen the superstar is when his horse won a race last summer.
It’s the healthiest way to approach sport, and Rory McIlroy admitted he’s jealous of Scheffler’s mindset in a recent interview, but we’d all like to see a little more emotion from both Scheffler and Jokic from time to time.
Entertainment
Jordan Spieth must put one club back in his bag for the first time since 2017 if he is to win again
Jordan Spieth has shown really positive signs on the PGA Tour so far in 2026.
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Join us on WhatsAppHowever, Spieth isn’t quite back to his best just yet and he’s struggling to actually get into contention on Sundays.
The 32-year-old has played really well at The Players Championship this week but his scores of 73 and 68 haven’t done him justice.
Spieth last won on the PGA Tour in April 2022 and he’ll be desperate to taste victory once again this season.
On Friday afternoon, Spieth shared his frustrations after finishing his round at The Players, after finishing with a double bogey on his final hole.
His golf game in general is in excellent shape right now but he’s simply not scoring as well as he should be.
That has very much been the case over the past few seasons really.
And judging by his stats, there is one root cause of his problems.
Jordan Spieth should trial a new mallet putter
Spieth’s struggles over the past few years have stemmed from his poor putting.
In fact, Spieth has finished outside the top 100 in strokes gained putting three times and outside the top 60 twice over the past seven seasons.
He has shown slight improvements on the greens on the PGA Tour this season and is ranked 17th in strokes gained putting in 2026.
However, he has struggled once again on the greens at The Players Championship, losing 0.460 strokes to the field.
The 13-time PGA Tour winner is a rare commodity in this day and age in the sense that he still uses a blade putter.
Many of the world’s best golfers have switched to mallet models over the past few years in an effort to become more consistent putters.
Players like Scottie Scheffler, Tommy Fleetwood and Rory McIlroy have all vastly improved their putting in recent times and they all put that down to the mallet putter.
Maybe it’s time for Spieth to follow those guys and make a switch in the putting department.
Spieth has played around with mallet models during practice at times throughout the years, but he has only used a deeper-faced putter once during a tournament.
The 32-year-old from Dallas, Texas, trialled a Scotty Cameron T5W Tour Only mallet putter at the Byron Nelson Classic in 2017, but the experiment didn’t last long.
Spieth put his trusty Scotty Cameron 009 Tour Prototype back in his bag immediately after the Byron Nelson finished.
Jordan Spieth must give a new putter time to work
The fact that he switched back so quickly doesn’t bode well but he should consider making the change on a long-term basis now.
It’s fair to say that Spieth didn’t give the mallet putter a sufficient chance back in 2017, but he has struggled so badly on the greens recently that a change of equipment is exactly what he needs.
A common misconception is that Spieth is a poor driver of the golf ball. In fact, he is quite the opposite.
He was ranked 15th in strokes gained off the tee in 2024 and has finished outside the top 38 only once since 2021.
Spieth’s main issue over the past seven years has been his putting. This is no a mini-blip, it’s a prolonged period of time where his trusty old putter has failed him.
It’s time for the three-time major champion to make a big move by adding a mallet putter to his bag.
He may find it hard to move on from his Scotty Cameron 009 Tour Prototype, but a mallet should theoretically help him win again and that should be all that matters.
Entertainment
Another stunner from Rory McIlroy, who says he and wife have reversed course on divorce, per report
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Join us on WhatsAppMcIlroy, 35, and his wife have been married for seven years and have a daughter, 3-year-old Poppy. He filed for divorce on May 13 in Florida, the day after winning the Wells Fargo Championship.
Entertainment
Sad golf news of the day: Jason and Amanda Dufner are getting divorced
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Join us on WhatsAppLike Tiger and Elin and Rory and Caroline, we’re always sad to see the end of a golf power couple. Since they were married in May 2012, they’ve provided golf fans with a fun look into their lives together. Some of the highlights:
That trip included Amanda giving golf a try:
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