Pebble Beach >> Leave it to Scottie Scheffler, the world’s best golfer, to block out the state of his embattled sport and focus on his season debut at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

“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,” Scheffler said. “Let’s soak that in.”

In other words, why ruin a picturesque setting by droning on and on about golf’s woes?

Scheffler should command the biggest draw in his season debut, after a phenomenal 2024 campaign that spawned seven wins, including The Masters. He also won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, the overall FedEx Cup crown, the Presidents Cup, and a made-for-TV duel last month. Oh, and charges were dropped in the aftermath of a strange traffic arrest at the PGA Championship.

It added up to a Tiger Woods-esque dominance, but in Scheffler’s own subtle style, and he’s not going to go out of his way to mimic Woods other than use on-course dominance to attract fans.

“People tune into Tiger because he’s a great player. Tiger, his golf clubs always did his talking for him,” Scheffler said. “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.”

Scheffler tees off Thursday at 9 a.m. on Spyglass’ back-9, so the galleries may not engulf him until Friday and the weekend rounds at Pebble.