CNN
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Being the strong favorite to win a golf tournament isn’t always an easy responsibility to bear. Just ask Scottie Scheffler, who has revealed that he was forced to close his Venmo account because of bettors staking money on his performance.
Ahead of this week’s US Open at Pennsylvania’s Oakmont Country Club, for which Scheffler is the strong favorite, the world No. 1 explained how he often hears from fans who have a financial interest in where he finishes at tournaments.
“That’s why I had to get rid of my Venmo because I was either getting paid by people or people requesting me a bunch of money when I didn’t win,” he told reporters. “It wasn’t a good feeling.”
Asked about the biggest sum he had ever been sent as a thank you, Scheffler added: “I don’t remember the most that somebody would send me. Maybe a couple bucks here or there. That didn’t happen nearly as much as the requests did.”
Scheffler has never won a US Open, but he enters the tournament with three wins in his last four appearances, which includes winning a third major title at the PGA Championship last month.
After suffering a freak hand injury while cooking Christmas dinner and spending time away from the game to recover, Scheffler’s recent results signal a clear return to form. He underlined his dominance with a four-shot victory at the Memorial Tournament in his last outing, joining Tiger Woods as the only back-to-back winners of the event.
However, the 28-year-old said that he doesn’t dwell on his status as a frequent pre-tournament favorite.
“Starting Thursday morning, we’re at even par and it’s up to me to go out there and play against the golf course and see what I can do,” said Scheffler.
Oakmont Country Club, which is hosting the US Open for a record 10th time, is a daunting prospect for even the world’s best golfers, with fast greens and thick, unforgiving rough.
Low scores are not expected this week, and Scheffler went as far as to call it “probably the hardest golf course that we’ll play maybe ever.”
He added: “When you talk about strength and power, I think that becomes more of a factor in these tournaments because, when you hit it into the rough, you’ve got to muscle it out of there.”
Scheffler, seeking his fourth title of the year, tees off at 1:25 p.m. ET on Thursday in a group with Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa.
