Scottie Scheffler dunked on the ball as it soared through the Texas sky. The world No. 1 was coming off back-to-back birdies and had a green light wedge from 105 yards. He was in the hunt, trying to run down Si Woo Kim and hold off Wyndham Clark to defend his CJ Cup Byron Nelson title. Everyone thought Scheffler, who started the final round two shots back, would eventually overtake Kim and take the trophy. That’s what murderers do. For sure, he would stick this wedge shot hard for a third straight birdie and be off to the races.
The ball landed on the flag, but this time the golf gods had a different plan. He hit the club and ricocheted back down the green, leaving Scheffler with a 55-foot putt for birdie. He reached a tie and eventually finished in third place, five shots from Clark, who shot a final-round 11-under 60 to win.
“When you’re winning tournaments, those are the ones that sometimes come in,” Scheffler said, laughing, after his round. “When you’re not winning innings, they’re the ones that hit the pin and go 50, 60 yards.”
And so Scottie Scheffler’s strange near-miss year continued on a course he tore apart last season en route to a runaway victory.
Scheffler has now finished in the top three six times this season. He won in his season debut at American Express, but the floodgates haven’t opened as expected. Scheffler still lived at the top of the leaderboard, but repeatedly found himself chasing a trophy but unable to capture it.
Back in February at Pebble Beach, Rory McIlroy referred to Scheffler as “relentless.” Nothing seemed to faze the world No.1. Not a bad round, not a bad shot, not a bad break. He just kept coming. That week, Scheffler came out of the gates in Round 1, but went on a charge Sunday that came up just short as he finished in a tie for fourth.
“One of my skills, and I feel like I’ve been able to get on a lot of charts lately, is getting into rounds when I haven’t had my best stuff,” Scheffler said that week at Pebble Beach. “I think these are some of the weeks when you look back, I’m really proud of sticking with it, not giving up even when I felt like things were going against me this week. I just kept fighting, kept trying to hit, kept trying to execute.”
A nap from Scheffler’s standards followed him as he finished T12 in Genesis AND T24 at Arnold Palmer in his next two starts. At the Players Championship, Scheffler was asked how he manages expectations. Since breaking into 2022, Scottie Scheffler has won big and won everywhere. This level of dominance leads to seeing everything through a binary lens: win or lose. Scheffler was filled with the idea that he had not lived up to expectations. Expectations can be an anchor, especially if they are large. But Scottie Scheffler explained that he sees everything through his ability to control his game and his preparation. of results will come if that foundation is strong.
“I think that’s a funny question because if you go back to my season, what did I finish last week? Like 24th or something — 24th and 12th, and like 3rd and 4th and a win. Would your question be the same if I came from third, fourth, win?” said Scheffler at TPC Sawgrass. “So that’s my point. It’s like your expectations of me are living week after week. My expectations of myself are almost shot.
“When it comes to my golf game and my expectations for myself, all of my expectations are based on what I want for myself mentally on the golf course to commit to what I can do and control that aspect.”
He fought that week. The driver was wicked and his normally pristine iron game was just right really good.
Then came the Masters and a flurry of near misses that have come to define a strange season for the world’s best player.
At Augusta National, Scheffler played near-perfect golf in brutal conditions in Round 1. He stumbled on an easier layout in the second round, leaving him 11 shots behind Rory McIlroy entering the weekend. Scheffler then played 36 holes of golf without a bogey and finished one stroke behind McIlroy. On the 17th hole on Sunday, Scheffler’s birdie putt was heading for the hole but veered left at the last second, leading to a par and a second-place finish.
After the round, Scheffler appealed Augusta National’s decision to smooth out the setup on Friday and then praised McIlroy while noting that a few shots over the course of 72 holes were the difference. Margins are razor thin, and sometimes a swing is the difference between winning and losing.
“I’ve been competing against him for a long time and you don’t win a lot of the tournaments he’s won here without being pretty resilient,” Scheffler said of McIlroy. “I knew going in today I was going to have to do something special if I was going to catch Cam (Young) and I was close, but just a few shots here or there.”
Rory McIlroy defeated Scottie Scheffler. But Scheffler also gave him an opening.
or a similar story unfolded the following week in the RBC legacy.
Scheffler entered the weekend seven shots behind Matt Fitzpatrick, but made a weekend charge and birdied the Englishman on the final hole to send the tournament into a playoff. Fitzpatrick then hit a 4-iron through the wind to 13 feet and made the birdie putt to win and hand Scheffler another runner-up finish.
“On Sunday, it’s a hit here or there that makes the difference,” Scheffler said as Fitzpatrick celebrated. “It was one of those weeks when Fitzy needed something to happen, he made something happen. He definitely got the win and he just played great golf.”
A few weeks later, at the Cadillac Championship, Scheffler got off to a good start as Cameron Young shot an opening-round 64 to beat him by seven shots. Scheffler matched him over the next 54 holes but had to settle for a runner-up finish as Young cruised to a six-hit victory in Doral.
“This week he hit a lot of quality shots,” Scheffler said of Young that week. “A lot of quality irons, quality shots, especially on the holes where it really counts. There are some tee shots here that are really tough and he got up and hit the shots. On the greens, he was incredible this week. The first 27 holes, I don’t think he missed anything. It was really frustrating. a lot of putts, that’s a recipe for running away with a golf tournament.”
Scottie Scheffler played really good golf. If you look at his stats compared to last season, when he won seven times, Scheffler has been only slightly worse. Last season, Scheffler ranked first in batting average (2,743), was second in Hits: Off The Tee (.748), first in hitting (1,291) and 22nd in hitting (.382). This season, Scheffler has been slightly better on the green (.506), but has seen his iron game drop from otherworldly to good (.521 strokes gained: Approach). Scheffler’s strikeout total is down to 2,221 this season. That still leads the PGA Tour, but the dip in iron play is enough to make it viable when other world-class players bring their A-game.
“If you look statistically, I’m probably not much different than I’ve been the last two years, just a few shots here and there,” Scheffler said Sunday after the loss to Clark. “Some things go my way in some tournaments. This season looks a little different, but like you said, I’ve been playing solid golf. Keep putting myself in position and things will go my way.”
Golf is a fickle game that is won and lost at the best of margins. Tiger Woods once went two years and four months without a win. Jack Nicklaus also went 24 months without a win. Rory McIlroy went 18 months without lifting a trophy.
Scheffler’s final victory came three months before.
He is still the best player in the world. The fact that his mistakes are a topic of conversation speaks for the expectations of greatness. Such is the price of the world’s talents. Scottie Scheffler’s golf has been slightly below the standard he set last year, causing him to consistently end up on the other side of the fine line. A bad swing or bad round has opened the door for McIlroy, Fitzpatrick, Young and, on Sunday, Clark to play their best and beat him.
As he left TPC Craig Ranch on Sunday, Scheffler sounded like a broken record discussing another narrow loss that might have had a different ending had he just been a little sharper and not come across another outstanding performance.
“Sometimes you just have to take your cap off and say good game, and 60 was going to be very hard to beat today,” Scheffler said. “Overall, I’m proud of myself for this week, but I wish I could have taken a few more shots out of it. Overall, Wyndham played great golf.”
Scottie Scheffler then left his hometown tour, hoping his next start, the Memorial, will have a different ending.
