Presidents Cup 2024: ‘WHAT WAS THAT?!’: Scottie Scheffler has epic response to his buddy Tom Kim at Royal Montreal

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We owe Scottie Scheffler an apology. We were not familiar with his (trash talk) game.

Sure, the World No. 1 has shown a fiery side on the course before, but it’s usually directed inward. Or, sometimes, directed at his caddie Ted Scott, which is nothing Teddy isn’t used to as Bubba Watson’s former bag man. Other than that, though, it often seems as though the two-time Masters winner would not hurt a fly. 

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But something awoke inside of Scheffler on Thursday at Royal Montreal, where he and partner Russell Henley were pitted against the formidable squad of Tom Kim and Sungjae Im in their opening four-ball match. Those paying close attention to golf this year would know that Scheffler and Kim are very good buddies, which was on full display at the Travelers Championship in June. The two were battling down the stretch for a trophy, yet the entire time they looked like they were yucking it up together in a member-guest. 

That was not the case at the par-3 seventh, where Kim holed a long birdie putt to seemingly cut Scheffler and Henley’s lead to 1 down. At least that’s how Kim acted as he celebrated the conversion. Unfortunately, the best player on planet earth still had a birdie putt, too, and he drilled it, turned to Kim and screamed “WHAT WAS THAT?!?!” 

You’ll often notice that in moments like this during the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup, that the opponents will generally fist-bump after. Maybe say “nicely done.” Smalls signs of respect. The most famous case of this was Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy during Sunday singles at the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine. The two went blow for blow but each time made sure to give each other props, even laughing at the absurdity of the entire match at a few points. 

Kim seemed to laugh this one off but Scottie … kind of didn’t? Guy seemed legitimately fired up. Friendship goes out the window in these team events, which is a good thing in our humble opinion. Knowing Scheffler, though, he’ll probably apologize to Kim later and say something like “I don’t know what came over me!” Too good of a guy. 

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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com