Justin Thomas Hits Dead End as Scottie Scheffler Refuses to Be a Part of His PGA Tour Mission

After a freak hand injury while making ravioli for Christmas delayed his 2025 PGA Tour season, Scottie Scheffler is ready to tee off at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The pre-match press conference for Pebble Beach was an interesting one, with Scheffler being asked about his injury and how he spent his time off. But he had one interesting viewpoint to share when asked about Justin Thomas’s memo to the membership. What are we talking about?

Well, he wrote a letter to PGA Tour members in which he encouraged them to provide a lot more access to the media before, during, and after rounds. “Believe me, in the past I’ve been the first to say no before things are even done being asked. I’ve had no interest when someone asks for an interview mid-round or suggest trying something new. But I also know how much the fans love those moments,” he wrote. Now Scheffler has some thoughts about the long letter Thomas wrote.

As reported by Tee Scripts, he stated, “The reason why I always watched sports is to see the competition. When I think about like the football games this weekend that I was so excited to watch, great competition, great teams going against each other. So when I think about something that would be good for the game of golf, I think the more we can get back in the competition of things, I think that’s what’s best.

“And when you have great players going at it, I think that that’s what’s interesting about sports. People tune into Tiger because he’s a great player. Tiger, his golf clubs always did his talking for him. He wasn’t going out and trying to do anything extra or try and put on a show. He was going out there to compete and play golf.

“It was electric at times because he would kind of go nuts when things would go well, but he also was really, really good at going crazy and getting right back into a different state of mind like that. That’s something that I’m — I try not to get too amped or too come down, I try to stay as even keel. Tiger was like a crazy person. Like you would see him go nuts and by the time, like he would get his ball out of the hole and he would be like (noise) like that.”

Woods’s presence still brings people to the golf course. His demeanor and actions on the field had endeared him to golf fans as well as Scheffler.

The World No.1 also assured that he does make time for press interactions and very rarely turns down opportunities to talk with the media. He has approached all conversations with the media with a sense of openness and honesty. Scheffler explained, “I always come in and do a press conference each week. I very rarely will ever turn down interviews after the round. I think being open and honest when you’re answering questions is always a good thing.”

“I try to be as honest as possible, but there are certain aspects of my life that I like to keep private. I never strived to be an entertainer. Always loved playing golf. This is what I love to do is come out here and compete.”

It is clear that Scottie Scheffler’s focus remains on the sport and anything beyond is secondary. What else did the golfer have to say with regard to Justin Thomas’ memo?

Scottie Scheffler does not want to be an entertainer…

For Scheffler, going overboard and away from his normal approach to his game is not something natural. Such aspects might make it look more like a reality show than a sport. “If people want to watch and enjoy, then come on out and have a good time, but I’m not going to put on a show or do anything crazy to try to get more people to watch me. Just try to come out here and do my thing.”

However, Scheffler does understand where Justin Thomas is coming from. The advent of social media has made long-form events difficult to market, especially in an age of short attention spans. But where Scottie disagrees is that the only way to bring about more viewers is radical change.

He feels that competition at the highest level in itself is attractive to the fans. “I think Justin did bring up some good points about being open to doing a bit more stuff, but at the end of the day I think what people like is competition,” Scheffler explained.

“I think the more we can stop talking about all the other BS that’s going on in the game of golf. I mean, we’re playing Pebble Beach this week and I’m sure a lot of the talking points in here are about pace of play and TGL and all this other stuff and we’re playing Pebble Beach this week, one of the most beautiful, iconic golf courses in the world, and we’ve got some of the best players in the world competing.”

However, Justin Thomas‘s memo did rub some people the wrong way, including Michael Bamberger. The seasoned reporter was of the same opinion as Scheffler. Speaking on the DropZone podcast, he stated that there was no need to specifically cater to fans. It was the greatness of the sport and lots of athletes that would bring in the attention. But unlike Scheffler, Bamberger was more dismissive of Justin Thomas’s request.

It is evident that there needs to be some form of change to the game of golf. Whether it is to create a base in which competitive golf is more accessible and frequent or to make the product more attractive and enticing for the new generation is a question that needs solutions. Maybe it is as simple as addressing concerns regarding slow play and easily accessible broadcasts. What do you think?