Lando Norris praises Scottie Scheffler after The Open winner's 'unfulfilled' comment
Formula 1 title contender Lando Norris has spoken out in support of Scottie Scheffler after the golf superstar's eye-catching comments made at last weekend's The Open Championship. The American lifted the Claret Jug for the first time with a comfortable victory at Royal Portrush, winning by four strokes over nearest challenger Harris English.
It was Scheffler's fourth Major win and 22nd professional tournament success, having dominated golf since his breakout year in 2022. He has now spent 150 consecutive weeks as the number one ranked golfer on the planet and is almost 300 points ahead of second-placed Rory McIlroy in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Aged 29, Scheffler is already fourth on the list of all-time top earners from the PGA Tour, having won £67,725,863 in prize money alone during his relatively short career to date, and his trajectory has been compared to that of megastar Tiger Woods. Still, he made it clear when speaking to reporters at The Open that he feels there is something missing.
Scheffler caught the eye by saying: "Look at this week, for example. What's the best-case scenario? I win this golf tournament, and then I'm going to show up in Memphis, and it's like, 'Okay, listen, you won two Majors this year, what are you going to do this week?'
Sign up to our free weekly F1 newsletter, Pit Lane Chronicle, by entering your email address below so that every new edition lands straight in your inbox!
"If I come in second this week or if I finish dead last, no matter what happens, we're always on to the next week. The show goes on. Sometimes the feeling of winning only lasts a few seconds. You work your whole life to celebrate winning a tournament for a few minutes. It only lasts a few minutes, that kind of euphoric feeling.
"To get to live out your dreams is very special, but at the end of the day, I'm not out here to inspire the next generation of golfers. I'm not out here to inspire someone to be the best player in the world because what's the point? This is not a fulfilling life. It's fulfilling from the sense of accomplishment, but it's not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart."
While those comments drew surprised reactions from many, they resonated with Norris. The McLaren racer is also a keen golfer in his spare time and, like Scheffler, has been open about his mental health ever since he first burst onto the scene in F1 back in 2019.
"I quite liked what Scottie said," said the Brit, reflecting on his own short-lived high after winning his home race, the British Grand Prix, for the first time two weeks ago. "I respect that he's quite honest about his whole feelings about everything. It's just honest about what he wants. Not everyone has to say what everyone believes in and what everyone thinks should be correct or not correct.
"I'm happy that someone that high up, achieving what he's done, he's performing to the same level that Tiger did in many circumstances. And that's pretty amazing to see him come out and say something like that. So I respect that a lot. And I related to a lot of it in many ways, which is cool.
"It's not a bad attitude, it's just his own way of achieving what he achieved. And I think you have to respect something like that. I found it, I admired that kind of thing. I love golf... I still support Rory more than anyone, the Brits. I thought it was fascinating and cool to see someone performing at such an incredibly high level come out and just say what he did."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Max Verstappen blasts FIA for 'ruining' Belgian GP with one key decision
The Belgian Grand Prix took a lot longer than usual as heavy rain forced a long delay at the start of the race, leaving Max Verstappen in particular unhappy with that decision Max Verstappen slammed the Formula 1 race director for his "very cautious" approach to managing conditions at the Belgian Grand Prix. The race was delayed for almost 90 minutes when heavy rain hit the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps and the FIA decided to red flag proceedings after the formation lap. That first lap took place at 3pm local time as scheduled, when the rain was still pouring. And it soon became clear that visibility was very poor as even Lando Norris, behind only the safety car on pole position, could barely see beyond the spray being thrown up into the air. And so race director Rui Marques too the decision to abort the start and call for all cars to return to the pit lane. Once he had done that, it was clear that the race would not resume for some time as more heavy rain was on the way. Eventually things got going, around 90 minutes after the originally scheduled start time. And it was perfect timing for Oscar Piastri who snatched the lead from Norris on the first lap after a rolling start and consolidated that position to win the race. Verstappen finished fourth, the same place he started, and was left to wonder what might have been had they been allowed to race in the more treacherous conditions, as he made it clear he would have preferred a bolder approach from race control. The Dutchman fumed: "We should have started miles earlier, an hour earlier. A bit of a shame. They took a very cautious approach which we spoke about after Silverstone, to be a little bit more cautious. "But, for me, this was then the other extreme. It just ruined a nice, classic wet race as well. We either still try to push for a proper wet race, or we say, 'You know what, let's just stop racing in the wet and wait for it to be dry. But that's not what you want, right? "We can still have some really cool wet racing, like we showed at Silverstone." But the race, in the end, was mostly in dry conditions and Verstappen could not find the pace he needed to reel in Charles Leclerc, who spent the whole race successfully defending the final podium place. Verstappen had won the Sprint race a day earlier, able to hold off the McLarens by driving flat out over 15 laps. But tyre degradation proved to be tricky again over a full race distance and that is what he wants his team to address going forward. He said: "The problems we have in the car in tyre management are still there, it doesn't matter what rear wing you put on the car and it also hurt us today in the race. We did the best we could, we made some changes and it was much nicer around the lap. We know what we have to work on but, unfortunately, it was not that straightforward to fix."
South Wales Guardian
2 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Hamilton agrees with Verstappen that Belgian GP should not have been delayed
Verstappen branded race director Rui Marques' move to bring out the red flag after a single formation lap in the rain at Spa-Francorchamps as 'silly' and 'way too cautious'. Following a delay of one hour and 20 minutes – which the FIA said was due to 'poor visibility' – the race eventually got under way, albeit in a rolling start after four laps behind the safety car. Hamilton was able to switch from intermediates to dry tyres after just seven racing laps. And when it was put to Hamilton, who made up 11 places to finish seventh, that Verstappen claimed the race should have started immediately, he replied: 'I would agree. My car was set up for that, and they waited for it to dry. Especially at the end. It was a dry line with hardly any spray.' There have been 49 driver/rider fatalities at Spa-Francorchamps in the last 100 years – most recently Dutch 18-year-old Dilano Van 't Hoff in 2023, and Frenchman Anthonie Hubert in a Formula Two race four years previously. The last Formula One race at Silverstone also took place in wet conditions, and Hamilton, 40, continued: 'It was just a reaction to Silverstone. 'We sat down and spoke about it after Silverstone. Lots of drivers in the last race said we shouldn't have restarted, because of a lack of visibility. And as soon as someone up ahead said, 'visibility is pretty bad' which, it wasn't great but it wasn't as bad as the last race, they just decided to wait. 'They still did a good job. Of course we did miss some of the extreme wet weather racing, which would have been nice. But for some reason the spray here is like a fog.' 🔴 RED FLAG 🔴 It's very wet out there and visibility is poor. The drivers will head back to the pit lane to wait for conditions to improve #F1 #BelgianGP — Formula 1 (@F1) July 27, 2025 In 2021, the rain-hit race was abandoned after just two laps behind the safety car. Defending the decision to delay the start of Sunday's event, Hamilton's Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc said: 'On a track like this you cannot forget about the history and what has happened in the past so I would rather be safe than go early.' Oscar Piastri, who won in Belgium to extend his championship lead over Lando Norris to 16 points, continued: 'We have given the FIA feedback that we would much rather be on the safe side. 'If you were being picky you might say we could have done one fewer lap behind the safety car but is the risk worth it? 'The first time we tried to start the race, with only Lando ahead, I couldn't see a thing, so you can imagine what it is like for the guys at the back.'
The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Padraig Harrington seals another major after storming to ISPS HANDA Senior Open Championship glory
PADRAIG HARRINGTON stormed to a sensational Senior Open victory on Sunday - landing his second senior major title of the season in style. The three-time major champ took a two-shot lead into the final round at Sunningdale, and never looked back as he closed out a dominant wire-to-wire win. 2 2 He got off to a flyer with a stunning eagle at the first, before picking up birdies at six and nine to keep the momentum going. The Dubliner's only blemish on the front nine came at the eighth, where he dropped a shot with a bogey. But the Stackstown golf legend hit back in style to see out his second senior major title of the year after his win at the US Open in Colorado last month. He then carded another birdie at the 14th to stretch his lead to three shots over Justin Leonard, holding firm as the pressure mounted from the American. And the 2024 World Golf Hall of Fame inductee then held his nerve as after a bogey on 17, prior to finding a tough lie in the bunker on his approach. But the chasing Leonard couldn't make a par putt as Harrington maintained the three-shot lead heading up the last with caddie Ronan Flood. 53-year-old Harrington negotiated the last with a par to finish on -3 for his final round for a sixteen under par total as he lapped up the applause from a huge crowd in Berkshire. He finished three-strokes ahead of Thomas Bjorn and Justin Leonard, who signed-off for a total of -13 at Sunningdale. It's was his third senior major after wins at the 2022 and 2025 US Open Championships. He joins Darren Clarke and Christy O'Connor Jr as the only men from the Emerald Isle to win the Senior Open Championship crown. There was an overall purse of $2.85m on offer- - and a first prize of $447,800 for Harrington.
