Scottie Scheffler and Cam Smith, after breaking the Internet, had a thought that would have lit it on fire.
Such was their reaction to The Step-through and The Glare. Nothing to see here. It happens. Let’s even have some fun with it.
To catch you up, during Thursday’s first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Scheffler tapped in for bogey on the 12th at TPC Southwind, and the fun began. Smith, squatting down, was lining up a putt on the green. Scheffler walked no more than a foot in front of him. Smith shot him a quizzical look. And folks online began to theorize.
Was it nothing? Maybe. This stuff happens. Was it something? Here’s where the conspiracy theorists conspiracy-theorized. Smith, earlier in the week, did not confirm nor deny a rumor he was going to soon leave the PGA Tour to join the controversial, Saudi-backed LIV Golf Series; he did the same last month after his Open Championship victory. Scheffler, meanwhile, is as PGA Tour as they come. And The Step-through and The Glare was a shot fired.
LOL, Scheffler and Smith told a pair of Golf Channel staffers ahead of Friday’s second round, where they were grouped together again.
“Well, Scottie Scheffler was kind of making fun of it and said there was no bad blood there,” analyst Justin Leonard said on the broadcast. “I think he was off to a bad start there early in the day, and etiquette-wise, it’s probably not the kindest thing to do, but there was nothing wrong, and Steve, they were pretty much joking about it after and before the round today.”
It’s here where Golf Channel’s Steve Sands said Scheffler and Smith thought about … doing it all over again.
An odd glare and a punched putter: Scottie Scheffler’s day was spicy
“They were telling us on the range that they were inside the clubhouse joking about it, maybe re-enacting it today just to stoke a flame on social media,” Sands said on the broadcast. “… Scottie said he didn’t mean anything by it at all. Cam knew it. And also Scottie said listen, I was off to such a bad start, I was just kind of out of my head space a little bit and didn’t realize what I was doing.”
Alas, they didn’t do it; they were working, and world No. 1 Scheffler shot a 68 and missed the cut, and world No. 2 Smith shot a 65 and is three shots out of the lead. Afterward, they simply shook hands.
“Have we snuffed it out?” announcer Dan Hicks said on the broadcast.
“It’s a shame it’s not true,” analyst Paul Azinger said, tongue in cheek.
“Zing is always up for a confrontation,” Hicks said. “I love it.”
“It would be so cool if Scheffler was dissing him,” Azinger said. “But yeah, that’s not the case. Scottie is one of the best guys, and same with Cam.”
