The last time Scottie Scheffler was the guest picker on ESPN’s College GameDay, his Texas Longhorns nearly upset No. 1 Alabama back in September 2022. Come Saturday he’ll take the stage as his alma mater — this time the top-ranked team in the nation — hosts No. 5 Georgia in the marquee matchup of the weekend.
The news of Scheffler’s appearance first broke when Kirk Herbstreit mentioned it on the Pat McAfee Show on Thursday.
Scheffler, 28, is coming off one of the best seasons in golf history, including six wins and one of the largest salaries ever earned by a pro golfer. He won the Tour Championship — and claimed the $25 million FedEx Cup bonus — and also added an Olympic gold medal to his resume. But the biggest moment of his season came in April, when Scheffler won his second major championship (and second green jacket) at the Masters.
Of course, one storyline that might also come up on Saturday was his eventful week at the PGA Championship in May, when he was arrested by Louisville Metro Police while trying to enter the course on Friday morning (charges were later dropped).
It’s no surprise the GameDay crew is in Austin for Texas-Georgia. The powerhouse programs have only faced each other five times in their history, but that was before Texas joined the SEC over the summer. Texas holds the 4-1 series edge and won the last meeting, 28-21, at the 2018 Sugar Bowl.
Scheffler’s first guest-picker appearance in 2022 was also memorable for a different reason. Texas men’s golf coach John Fields surprised him with the Jack Nicklaus Award for PGA Tour Player of the Year (an award Scheffler is bound to win again this year, although it’s yet to be announced).
A couple of months after Scheffler’s inaugural appearance, three-time major champion and another former Longhorns star, Jordan Spieth, joined the crew as the guest picker when Texas hosted TCU.
College GameDay airs 9 a.m. to noon ET on Saturday on ESPN.
