PORTRUSH, UK: Scottie Scheffler said on Tuesday he does “not care” about being the tournament favorite as he prepares for his latest tilt at a maiden British Open title this week at Royal Portrush.

The world number one has never seriously threatened to win a Claret Jug, but is again enjoying a run of supreme form and arrives in Northern Ireland as the PGA champion.

The American has emphatically rebounded from a slow start to the year after suffering a freak hand injury cutting himself on a wine glass, reeling off 10 successive top-10 finishes including three victories.

“I could not care any less about being the favorite or not being the favorite,” he said.

“We all start even par and the tournament starts on Thursday. That’s pretty much all that matters.”

Scheffler produced his best British Open finish last year with a tie for seventh, but ended his tournament at Troon in ignominious style with an embarrassing topped tee shot on the 18th en route to a closing double-bogey.

He has never missed the cut at the links major before, though, and believes he has what it takes to lift the Claret Jug.

“In terms of links golf, I love the style of golf. I think it’s really fun and you have to be creative,” Scheffler added.

“You have to hit a lot of really good shots. There’s a challenge to it, but I think it’s a lot of fun.

“We’ll see how the weather turns out this week. Weather has a pretty dramatic effect on how the golf course is going to play.”

Scheffler won nine titles last season, including the Masters and the Olympic gold medal.

His third major title at the PGA Championship in May is one of his three victories so far this year, but he says he doesn’t set himself specific targets.

“I don’t look at wins and losses or stuff like that.

“I don’t sit down at the beginning of the year and say I want to win X number of times; I want to win this many majors; I want to win this many tournament events. That’s not something I do.

“That’s not something that works for me.”

NEW YORK: San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama expects to play this coming season and has been fully cleared after dealing with deep vein thrombosis in his shoulder for the past few months, he told the French newspaper L’Equipe in remarks published Monday.

A person familiar with the situation later told The Associated Press that the Spurs have indeed received word that Wembanyama has been cleared to resume play and, barring anything unforeseen, will be able to fully participate in training camp when it opens this fall. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the team has not revealed that detail publicly.

It has been expected that the team anticipated Wembanyama would be able to start this coming season, though there was no official word until now.

“I’m officially cleared to return. … I’ll finally be able to play a bit of basketball again,” Wembanyama told the French sports daily.

The fact that Wembanyama has been cleared suggests that his type of DVT was provoked, which would rule out a genetic predisposition to a clot returning. The Spurs have not disclosed specifics of Wembanyama’s shoulder issue, but there is a type of DVT that appears when a blood vessel in someone’s upper arm can be compressed by a rib (the top rib is removed in some cases to relieve the compression, if that is the cause) or a muscle. Such issues have proven to be treatable in the past.

Many other athletes have dealt with similar issues. Serena Williams came back to dominate women’s tennis after a clotting issue following the birth of her daughter; Williams needed four surgeries to address the matter. Basketball Hall of Famer Chris Bosh had to eventually retire from the NBA after he was diagnosed with multiple clots. In hockey, Tomas Fleischmann developed clots and went on to play for years afterward; Tomas Vokoun needed surgery to relieve his clotting problem and never played in the NHL again.

“I was afraid of not being able to play basketball anymore,” Wembanyama said in the interview. “I think that we all have thoughts sometimes. Irrational thoughts about the things we care about most. But this type of thinking also changes you as a person, for the better.”

Wembanyama was the league’s rookie of the year two years ago, Spurs guard Stephon Castle won that same trophy this past season, and the team has added another high pick — this year’s No. 2 selection, Dylan Harper — to a super-promising young core. Wembanyama was the front-runner to be defensive player of the year last season when he was diagnosed with the blood clot in his right shoulder in February.

“My injury was an adventure, obviously, but the hardest part is over,” he told L’Equipe. “I’m much better today, physically and mentally.”

Wembanyama was averaging 24.3 points, 11 rebounds, 3.8 blocks and 3.7 assists per game when he was shut down in February; the only other player in NBA history to finish a season averaging all that was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975-76.

There will be an obvious ramping-up period before Wembanyama is playing at full speed again, though there is plenty of time between now and training camp for him to get back to that level.

“I have to continue specific work on my shoulder and especially get back into everything related to my basketball habits,” Wembanyama said in the interview. “It’s been five months since I’ve played a 5-on-5 match. If I had to have a game tomorrow, it would be risky. There are plenty of reflexes to find, both conscious and linked to muscle memory.”

Wembanyama has traveled extensively in recent months and spent time last month at a Shaolin temple in Zhengzhou, China. The temple is a place that welcomes visitors who wish to study Chan meditation, Shaolin Kung Fu, traditional Chinese medicine and more.

Wembanyama told L’Equipe that he studied kung fu and Buddhism during his stay there, but added that he does not identify as Buddhist.

“We were initiated there to the life of a warrior monk, which combines Buddhism and intensive kung fu practice,” he said. “It was very hard. We discovered movements that we had never done in our lives. It was more than 1,000 kicks to do per day, jumps, balance exercises, stretching. ... We used muscles that we rarely used and which were quickly overloaded. I had some of the biggest aches and pains of my life.”