The surprising snack fueling this 12 months’s Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — It could be mentioned that each second, each instantaneous that Scottie Scheffler spends within the warmth of battle is the product of hundreds of selections that no person ever sees.

Decisions just like the one he confronted on Saturday afternoon on the Players Championship, shortly after finishing one of many low rounds of the day at TPC Sawgrass, when Scheffler confronted a query of the utmost seriousness: Burrito or bowl?

Golf is an advanced sport, and that’s largely as a result of its champions are constructed upon fractional advantages. In 2022, Scheffler’s Strokes Gained: Putting was -.301, which ranked 162nd on Tour and triggered a number of months of sustained apoplexy amongst golf speaking heads. In 2025, it was .382 — an enchancment of slightly more than half a shot per spherical — and Scheffler was unanimously seen as top-of-the-line putters on Tour and a typically unstoppable pressure within the sport.

The butterfly impact of such incremental enhancements may be seen all over the place on a typical weekend on the PGA Tour, the place golfers chase gear fixes, bodily remedy and even psychological therapy within the feeble hope of an additional decimal level.

“If we can make them literally one percent better every week, then we’ve done something,” Kellen Watson, a Tour Rep for Callaway, says. “One percent is more than enough.”

Given this aggressive setting, it ought to come as no shock that vitamin has grow to be a serious focus. Allergy exams and different current advances in dietary science have led many golfers to undertake extra restrictive, performance-focused diets. Some gamers cook dinner all the pieces themselves, avoiding frequent triggers reminiscent of gluten and dairy with militaristic diligence. Others carry private cooks on the street to cater to even essentially the most restrictive dietary wants. The shift has been so pronounced that in 2023, the PGA Tour revamped its vitamin program fully to serve nutritionist-approved menus with varied allergens and efficiency diets on the forefront.

Many gamers appreciated the shift, which labeled meals not solely by substances but additionally by supposed time of consumption, reminiscent of “RECOVERY” and “PRE-ROUND.” Still, not all people was happy.

“It’s actually my complaint here this week is the food is too healthy in player dining,” Tom Hoge mentioned in ’23. “There’s a QR code for us; I logged that complaint. They need some food like the rest of the obese people in America eat.”

The reality is that the Hoges of the world are going the best way of the dinosaur on at present’s PGA Tour, the place macros are counted and inflammatory meals are prevented. The shift in direction of wellness is especially seen at Sawgrass, the place a big, everlasting fitness center buffets the Tour’s touring fleet of wellness automobiles. Those automobiles, named the “Performance Center,” welcome licensed bodily therapists, psychologists, trainers and a nutritionist to just about each occasion on the schedule.

“Basically, what I want is for our athletes to have the same type of services that a professional sports team [has],” mentioned Andy Levinson, the Tour’s SVP of match administration. “So we try to have all the same types of equipment, the same services, everything.”

But not each change is sort of so mundane — on the Players Championship, the Tour threw a bone to the Hoges of the world by welcoming a first-of-its-kind addition to the participant, caddie and household eating scene: Chipotle.

The omnipresent fast-casual model was a late addition to the fold for Players week, organising store in a small tent simply behind the participant scoring space. While the menu isn’t fairly as scientifically sourced or nutritionally dense as the normal choices in participant eating, it didn’t take lengthy to grow to be a Tour favourite.

“The 17th is the most-photographed location at TPC Sawgrass this week,” mentioned one safety guard figuring out entrance of the tent on Thursday morning. “But this area might be second.”

Chipotle says they’ve dedicated to offering 400 meals per day on the Players by way of a restricted menu of burritos and burrito bowls. The customization choices have been trimmed to incorporate solely the preferred (and most wholesome) menu objects, that are cooked in an connected, full-service kitchen by workers sourced from areas all through the Jacksonville space. At the top of the day, additional meals are given away to safety and match workers.

Throughout the day on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the tent was a hub of exercise among the many competing class. In addition to Scheffler, golfers like Maverick McNealy (who is alleged to plan his match weeks round Chipotle visits) and Max Homa have been regulars, together with a number of caddies, match workers and different gamers. The love affair had a easy reasoning: the meals is comparatively wholesome, straightforward to search out, and dependably good — three traits that may be elusive in a lifetime spent on the street.

“When I leave on Sunday, it’s my tradition to eat some bad shit — usually my favorite airport candy,” Homa, who picked up a Chipotle sponsorship final 12 months, instructed GOLF with a smile. “Otherwise, I try to eat pretty healthy. I’m not counting calories or anything, but good food helps.”

Homa’s spin on vitamin is comparatively open-minded. He tries to eat “healthy” throughout tournaments and competitions, however his food plan isn’t too restrictive. He stays away from pink meat within the evenings, however eats the rainbow. Scheffler is comparable, although his Chipotle habits did acquire some fame on the Open Championship in July.

“There’s one right where I grew up, kind of near SMU’s campus. If I was to go to that Chipotle and try to eat nowadays, it would be very difficult for me,” Scheffler mentioned. “There’s another one in a different part of town that I’m not going to tell you where it is, but if I go there, nobody recognizes me ever.”

The unifying concept shouldn’t be devotion to the model however to the life-style. Pro golfers are prepared to do huge issues for small benefits — and foolish because it sounds, a burrito bowl is an instrument in pursuit of these targets.

“It’s been cool to see people realize that nutrition is actually quite personal,” Homa mentioned. “Like, lettuce is good in the salad, but some people don’t digest lettuce. So I think it’s gotten a lot more personalized versus back in the day. When I was growing up, it was, you know, candy’s bad, this is good.”

On Saturday on the Players Championship, the spectrum of non-public alternative was on full show. As gamers flooded in from a weathering shifting day at TPC Sawgrass, the alternatives dealing with gamers have been as dizzying as they have been different. Lunch or restoration? Range time or placing observe? Burrito or bowl?

The World No. 1 contemplated every of these items as he headed off the 18th inexperienced at TPC Sawgrass and in direction of scoring. A couple of minutes later, Scottie Scheffler had settled on an answer.

“Barbacoa in a bowl,” the bean-scooper who served him repeated later with a smile. “A little bit of everything inside.”