CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Everyone loves a good bromance. From Joey and Chandler to Harry and Lloyd, there’s something about two dudes with an inseparable bond that just tugs at the heart strings. Add in sports to the equation and it takes our collective fascination to the next level.
The good news for the bromance appreciators among us? Team USA has several offerings at this week’s Presidents Cup. Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are obvious candidates (who can forget the picture from their junior golf days?), and Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay seem to have a strong bond of their own.
2022 Presidents Cup viewer’s guide: TV schedule, streaming, how to watch
But while those two pairs should provide plenty of intrigue this week at Quail Hollow, it’s the budding kinship of a pair of rookies that has us riveted.
Enter Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns. The two Presidents Cup rookies have been among the top players in the game over the past year, and it just so happens they’re pretty tight off the course, too. Combine those two ingredients and captain Davis Love III may well have a lethal pairing.
Scheffler-Burns will not be featured in the opening four-ball session, but it’s still a safe bet that they will be paired together at some point. Here are three reasons why when it does happen, it should pay dividends.
1. Demeanor
You’d be hard-pressed to find a couple of professional more laid back than Scheffler and Burns — and that goes for inside and outside the ropes. One of ’em makes a bogey? You can hardly tell. That ability to stay within themselves is a big part of why they are two of the top stars in the game.
But while that easygoing nature is great when it comes to golf, it can be a slight headache for scribes. Ask either one of them a question and they’ll do their best to answer in as few words as possible.
Take this exchange between Burns and the media on Tuesday:
Q: Who gives who the hardest time?
Burns: It’s back and forth. I don’t know, I think it’s just — who gives who a harder time? I don’t know. Just us.
It’s not always the most insightful exercise when interviewing either one of them, but it is a consistent one. Neither one of them is going to give more than they need to. Great minds think alike, perhaps?
2. Camaraderie
Scheffler and Burns’ bond is deeper than just a couple of golfers who play practice rounds together. These two share their lives together when they’re on the road.
Most weeks when both of them are playing, they share accommodations, renting a house for themselves and their wives. And as a couple of good ole Southern boys, they’re always on the hunt for the best barbecue around.
That camaraderie doesn’t stop on the weeks they’re on the road together. Sometimes, the two even vacation together, just as they did earlier this summer after the Open Championship.
Would you take a picture like that with anyone other than your best bro? You would not.
3. Playing style
Want to see some insanely crisp ball-striking? Just follow around Scheffler and Burns for an afternoon. Like all pros, watching them up close is a sight to behold. But unlike all pros, they’re each as consistent as they come.
For the 2021-22 season, each was among the top of their class in SG: Approach, Scheffler finishing the season in fourth while Burns finished 18th.
“I think Sam and I both play pretty similar,” Scheffler said. “We know each other’s games pretty well and know each other’s personalities well.”
A match made in heaven? Davis Love would settle for a match made in Charlotte.
