Scottie

Scheffler

The Texan split just 4-of-14 fairways today but led the field in approach, gaining 3.9 strokes (mostly from the rough) in that category. “I didn’t drive it as well as I would’ve hoped to today, but outside of that I didn’t put myself in any really horrible spots. There are some bad spots you can put yourself in here in the bunkering. Hit the important tee shots well and just kept the course in front of me.” Scheffler is making his fourth appearance at TPC River Highlands and he’s improved upon each visit (missed cut, T47, T13).

Scheffler stormed the castle late on Saturday (eagle-birdie finish) but couldn’t keep his foot on the gas today. He opened with six pars then traded three birdies with three bogeys on his way into the clubhouse. “I just felt like I wasn’t sharp enough today to move up the board. I did a good job of keeping myself in it but I just wasn’t sharp enough.” The Texan didn’t land a win but continued his torrid run of consistency. Scheffler has now finished 12th or better in 15 straight stroke-play events. It’s easy to see why he’s earned the title of No. 1 golfer in the world.

The Texan entered the week having lost strokes putting in eight straight rounds. He made a switch to a new putter today and it paid off, gaining 2.5 strokes putting (6th) to rebuild some of that confidence on the greens. “Hit a lot of good shots today and I did a good job of staying patient out there and posted a good number on a day in which I got off to a pretty slow start.” Scheffler is five shots off the lead but currently tied for third so right in the hunt if the early co-leaders drop back to the pack. He’s now been T11 or better after 17 of his last 20 rounds played.

The Texan enters the week on the heels of four straight top 5s. That included a runner-up finish at the PGA Championship. The storyline in his last two starts has been a cold putter holding him back. It’s hard to imagine that when you see a pair of third-place finishes. However, his combined strokes gained tee-to-green in those events has been 35.7 while he gave 13.1 strokes back with the putter. Scheffler was seen testing a new putter early in the week, “I mean, sometimes you just got to bring another putter around there to make the original one scared. I’ve never really been one to try and overthink things, so I try and keep things as simple as possible.” Scheffler did not confirm which putter will be his gamer this week but there is at least a chance that it’ll be a new one.

It looked like a short week for Scheffler at times on Thursday and Friday but he squeezed through the cutline on the number and made a huge move over the weekend. He fired 135 over the final two rounds which was three shots better than anyone in the field and more than 12 shots better than the field average over the course of those two days. Scheffler’s tee-to-green play was superb this week, ranking 1st in off-the-tee, approach, and around-the-green. He lost a whopping 8.5 strokes putting which was the same story for him last week at Colonial, as well. “It’s just one of those deals. Sometimes those putts go in and sometimes they don’t. Jon [Rahm] and I, we’re playing together and we were kind of joking after the round, I think, on Friday how bad we were both putting. But we both were thinking the same thing, that some of those putts look like they’re going in and about 2 feet away you’re ready to go pick it up out of the hole and then it just doesn’t fall. It’s confusing. It’s frustrating. I’m pretty frustrated with it right now. "

The Texan led the field in strokes gained tee-to-green last week at the Charles Schwab Challenge but lost close to five strokes putting for the week. The putter held him back again today, losing 3.1 strokes putting at the time he walked off the course. His tee-to-green play was once again able to keep him close to the field average but he’ll need to tidy up the putting if he wants to make a big move on Friday.

The local resident had his first career ace today (in a PGA TOUR event) but his putter remained ice cold. That was the story of the week as he lost strokes putting in all four rounds (-4.6 SGP for the week). Scheffler gained just over 15 strokes tee-to-green which was best in the field at week’s end. He remains a model of consistency but won’t add any more hardware to his resume this week. Scheffler now has a playoff loss and T3 finish in his last two tries at Colonial Country Club.

The Texan played himself into a playoff at this event last year, losing to his good buddy, Sam Burns. They continued to crush Colonial together, both opening with 3-under 67s to sit in a share of third place on the live leaderboard. For Scheffler, he caught a seriously good break along the way today but also felt that he left a few strokes out on the course for the other holes. “I felt like I could have shot really low, and I feel like I could have went in the opposite direction too really fast.” His good break came at the 5th where his tee ball hit a tree and bounced into the middle of the fairway, rather than going into a hazard. He parlayed the good break into a birdie. He’s finished 12th or better in every 2023 start and showing no signs of slowing down just yet.

Scheffler lost strokes to the field on day three but gained a whopping 17.2 strokes over the field in the other three rounds. “Maybe I could have gotten that one a little closer, but I’m not going to sit around and think about what could have been this weekend. I put up a good fight, and I’m proud of how I played. Congrats to Brooks. He beat us this week.” He now has finishes of T8 or better in three of four appearances at the PGA Championship. He also continued his streak of finishes T12 or better in every event he’s played since November. In other news, with this finish he also reclaims the World No. 1 spot in the OWGR.