'One Of The Great Things About Golf Is I Can Go Out With A Guy Who Is Going To Shoot 90 And I Can Give Him Enough Strokes To Where We'll Have A Good Competition' - Scottie Scheffler On Losing To 10-Handicap Friend

Golf is a great leveller - quite literally - due to the handicap system, which Scottie Scheffler is still a huge fan of despite suffering an embarrassing loss to one of his friends.

There aren't too many sports around where the best in the world can take on an average amateur on the same field or course and have a relatively competitive contest.

Scheffler has often talked about his love of playing money games against his golfing buddies in his spare time, even if he is now forced to play them off a plus-seven handicap - but that ability to give them strokes means they can compete on an almost level footing.

Well, about as level as it can be against the World No.1 who regularly beats most of the PGA Tour with relative ease.

And that's true even on the rare occasion he's on the wrong end of the result, as he joked about when recalling a recent money match that he ended up losing - to a 10 handicapper!

"I still love cutting it up with my buddies on weekends and playing money games and gambling," Scheffler said ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

"I played last weekend and one of my buddies who is not a very good golfer, he's like a 10 handicap, he beat me in our side bet for the day.

"And I was talking with Phil [Kenyon, putting coach] and that's kind of one of the great things about golf is I can go out with a guy who is going to shoot 90 and I can give him enough strokes to where we'll have a good competition.

"That's what makes it so fun about the game of golf."

Two-time Bay Hill winner Scheffler joked that it was not the ideal warm-up for another crack at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and the manner in which his buddy grabbed the win made it even better.

As this 10-handicapper faced a tough shot out of the sand that could have gone either way - but he ended up making it to down the two-time Masters champion.

That's classic golf right there.

"I mean, he holed a bunker shot on 18 to win," smiled Scheffler, who is still clearly bemused by the defeat.

"I got out of the way because I thought he could potentially shank it, and he ended up holing it. So it was kind of one of those - it was pretty fun.

"I didn't like losing, and I handed him the money and then I told him, I was like, Thanks, man. Now I got to go play a golf tournament next week, so appreciate the confidence boost that I just lost to a 10 handicap."