Ryder Cup: Scottie Scheffler using 'internal' motivation, not memory of Rome beatdown, to prepare for Bethpage Black

BETHPAGE, N.Y. — The feeling of disappointment hit Scottie Scheffler hard after he and teammate Brooks Koekpa lost 9 & 7 in their 2023 Ryder Cup foursome match to Viktor Hovland and Ludvig Åberg. There was the world No. 1 emotional as the U.S. team was just handed the worst loss ever in the event.

Since that Saturday at Marco Simone, Scheffler has been on a Tiger Woods-level run, winning 13 times over the past two PGA Tour seasons, including victories at the Masters, The Open and PGA Championship. He was also part of the American team that won last year’s President’s Cup in Montreal.

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There’s been a lot of success for Scheffler lately and that stinging defeat during a rough 2023 Ryder Cup for the Americans has been left behind in Italy, but not forgotten altogether.

“I think you can learn from your wins and your losses,” Scheffler said Tuesday, three days before the start of the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black in New York. “I’ve had some nice wins out here and I’ve had some tough losses as well. You can always learn from those experiences and I think that would be the best way that I could describe it is how much I’ve learned from Rome, how much I’ve learned from the experience at Whistling Straits [in 2021].

“I feel like I have a large bank of knowledge over the course of my career that I can use to my advantage, especially when things get tough. I don’t think it can be understated how difficult of a week Rome was for us. I think we could have done better, for sure. That wasn’t how I expected the week to go and I think we learned from it. We’re as prepared as ever this time.”

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After recording a 2-0-1 record at the 2021 Ryder Cup, Scheffler went 0-2-2 at Marco Simone, which included tying Jon Rahm during Sunday singles, one day after the defeat to Hovland and Åberg. This time around Scheffler changed his preparation by playing and winning last week's Procore Championship rather than taking the extra time off following the Tour Championship.

Two years on from Marco Simone, there's no existing scar tissue from that forgettable Saturday, Scheffler says. There's also no need for extra motivation for revenge at Bethpage Black. Playing in the Ryder Cup should be motivational enough.

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“I lost a point, it was a tough day,” Scheffler said. “Came back the next day, played my best and ended up halving a match with Rahm and we ended up losing the Cup. There’s always things you can learn from those experiences. I think motivation is a weird word to use. Satisfaction is definitely a dangerous word to use in terms of golf. My motivation has always been internal. I love being able to practice and play and you’re always trying to work on something often. It’s like a puzzle that can never be solved. That’s what excites me. That’s what excites me about coming to these events.”