ATLANTA — The tournament trophies, the season-long awards, and the stats all say the same thing: Scottie Scheffler has been the best golfer on the planet for the past three years. And it’s not even close.

But during his Tuesday press conference ahead of this week’s Tour Championship, the World No. 1 sounded like every weekend hacker out there. Why? He was just another golfer bitching about how many strokes he has to give his friends on the course.

The moment was particularly funny given the timing. After all, Scheffler is starting with a two-shot lead at East Lake on Thursday due to his historic campaign that includes six PGA Tour titles, a green jacket and a gold medal. But apparently, all that success has caused his buddies to bump down, or, rather, bump up his handicap.

“Depends on the game, but at home I’m typically playing to a plus 7,” Scheffler said. “I used to be a plus 5. They moved me to a plus 7. So now we’ve got guys in the group that are getting like two strokes a hole.”

Sounds rough. That being said . . .

“I typically still will win more often than not, I feel like, but it’s just fun,” Scheffler said. “It’s just entertaining. If you’re going out there with a 12, 13 handicap you don’t know what the heck is going to happen,” Scheffler said. “If we’re playing Wolf there is a lot of volatility there and it’s fun.”

First of all, it’s awesome that Scottie plays more golf in his spare time. And that he plays with regular Joes. And that he plays gambling games like Wolf. Like he says, the beauty of the USGA’s handicap system is that golfers of all different levels can still compete against each other.

“If I’m at home, pretty much either Friday or Saturday, I’m playing with somebody that I’m giving 20 strokes. I think we’re up to 20 strokes now,” Scheffler added. “And he takes them all. I think if we kept my handicap throughout the year—it’s tough. It’s a tough thing to figure out.”

Actually, statistician Lou Stagner figured it out for Tiger Woods a few years back. Stagner calculated Woods’ handicap index from 1996 to 2020 and the results were staggering.

As you can see, during that time, Tiger’s best index was a +9.4(!) in 2008 and his worst was a +3.7 in 2015 when he briefly battled the chipping yips.

Overall, Woods’ +6.7 average index is right in line with the number that Scheffler’s friends have assigned him. And considering Scheffler is playing at a level close to even Tiger’s peak, he might actually be getting off easy.

“I do not want to be giving him money at the end of the day whether it’s $5 or $500,” Scheffler said of the guy he gives 20 strokes to. “I do not want to take out my wallet and hand him money at the end of the day. That’s just not in my blood. I want to win, whether we’re playing ping-pong or whatever it is.”

If that 20-stroke guy happens to read this, he’s probably going to demand even more.