On Mother's Day, Scottie Scheffler has more than one reason to say thank you

McKINNEY, Texas -- It’s hard to dissociate Scottie Scheffler from Texas. Raised in the Dallas area since he was six years old, Scheffler tore up the local junior golf circuit, won three high school state titles then made the three-hour drive to Austin and attended the University of Texas. His PGA TOUR debut was at the 2014 AT&T Byron Nelson as an amateur.

Scheffler’s roots here are easy to see. He still lives in Dallas and has rarely missed an event in the Lone Star State since he turned pro. It has not been hard to tell where he is on the golf course this week at the AT&T Byron Nelson. Crowds have flocked anywhere Scheffler has gone. Hear a loud roar? It’s probably Scheffler, the hometown kid.

In a roundabout way, Scheffler has his mother, Diane, to thank for that, which would make a Mother's Day win in his hometown event extra special. He will start Sunday's final round at TPC Craig Ranch two strokes off the lead. A win would be his third of 2023 and return him to No. 1 in the world ranking.

Certainly, she deserves the credit that family normally gets from the molding of a star athlete. She was there for every step of Scheffler’s childhood, helping him along. But her impact is a bit more tangible – the Scheffler family may never have wound up in Texas without her. Scheffler doesn’t become the local hero at this event, if not.

For the first six years of his life, Scheffler grew up in New Jersey, where his parents went to high school and later met. The family only moved to Texas so Diane could take a job as the Chief Operating Officer for a law firm in Dallas.

“They took a pretty big risk moving their whole family across the country. I think we were 8, 6, 4 and 2 when we moved, so that's a pretty big change, especially when you've got the 8- and the 6-year-old in school, and you take them out of school in the middle of the year,” Scheffler said.

Maybe Scheffler would’ve become a star golfer had the family grown up in New Jersey, too, but the move set off a chain reaction of events. Soon after arriving in Dallas, the Schefflers joined Royal Oaks Country Club, where Scottie is still a member. There he met Randy Smith, who has remained his swing coach all these years later. Smith’s son, Blake, is Scheffler’s agent. Scheffler met his wife, Meredith, while in high school.

With Diane’s demanding job, Scheffler’s dad, Scott, assumed the stay-at-home parent duties, watching over Scottie and his three sisters.

“I was fortunate to grow up in a home with two parents that loved all of us very dearly, and my mom was the one who was working and supporting our family financially, which I would say is a little bit different,” Scheffler said.

Scottie’s connection to his father is well documented. There are stories of Scott holding a flashlight as Scottie hit golf balls in the dark or the lengths he went to get the four kids to every practice, tournament and appointment. But Scheffler has never forgotten the sacrifices his mom made.

“She worked really hard for a long time to not only support my career goals traveling around the country playing golf and stuff like that, but my sister's, as well,” Scheffler said. “My mom is obviously very special to me.

Scheffler has accomplished quite a lot in his young career. He’s a major champion. He’s won THE PLAYERS Championship. He’s reached No. 1 in the world.

Scheffler hasn’t thought much about how his life might be different had his family never moved to Texas. “I'm sure they wonder,” he says, referencing his parents.

He sure is happy they made the decision they did, though.

“Our family loves Dallas, and it feels like home to me,” he says.

Scheffler has more than one reason to say “thank you, mom” this Mother’s Day.