Scottie Scheffler dominates tee to green at Memorial, but on the greens …
DUBLIN, Ohio – Aggravated. Exhausted. Deflated.
They could all apply to Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 who endured a wildly historic week at the Memorial.
First the good news. Scheffler continued to be a ball-striking robot, leading the field in strokes gained: off the tee, strokes gained: tee-to-green, strokes gained: approach the green and proximity to the hole. By any metric, he was dominant with a staggering 20.71-shot advantage on the field, which is the second-best gain (behind only Vijay Singh’s record mark of 21.14 in 2004 at TPC Boston) since the Tour introduced the category 20 years ago.
Now the bad news. He also continued a baffling trend on the greens, losing 8.5 shots to the field in strokes gained: putting for the week. Even his closing 67 at Muirfield Village, which temporarily tied him for the lead at 6 under, was a statistically awful effort on the greens.
On Sunday he made 43 feet of putts, which was exactly one foot better than his 42 feet on Thursday. His 46-foot average for the week was last in the field.
It was an identical story at the Masters, where he tied for 10th place, and the RBC Heritage, where he tied for 11th, and the AT&T Byron Nelson, where he tied for fifth, and the PGA Championship, where he finished runner-up, and the Charles Schwab Challenge, where he tied for third.
Anyone who made it to Scheffler’s episode in the Netflix docuseries “Full Swing” can recognize the 26-year-old as equal parts endearing, genuine and unassuming, so it was no surprise that in the face of this statistical dichotomy he remained impressively unflappable.
“I just tried to bring a good attitude coming in. The first two days here were really frustrating. It’s tough. It’s the fourth week in a row. I’m pretty tired,” Scheffler said. “I was in contention at Byron, PGA and Colonial, and I’m pretty worn out at the moment. I was just proud of how I showed up this weekend and fought.
“I hit it so good and I gave myself a chance. Maybe a few more putts go in, it’s a little different story.”
Most will look at the paycheck Scheffler will pocket for finishing third at the Memorial, and the number next to his name, and ignore Scheffler’s capacity to compartmentalize the current state of his game.
Scheffler is the Tour’s best ball-striker by a mile. For context, he’s 0.7 shots better than No. 2 in strokes gained: tee-to-green (Rory McIlroy) this season – that’s the same difference between McIlroy and No. 15, Tom Kim, in that category.
While he remains upbeat, there are limits to how much even Scheffler can endure as evidenced by his work this week on the practice putting green. Following his rounds on Thursday and Friday, he spent extended time looking for answers at Jack’s Place with multiple putters and even his lob wedge – which he said helps him release the putter more consistently.
“I feel like I’m making progress. Like I said at the PGA, I can start feeling the ball coming off the blade again, which is good,” he said. “I felt like at the Masters – and was it Hilton Head? It didn’t feel as good. Even today, I just go through my round and I’m like, how did some of these putts not go in?”
Full-field scores from the Memorial Tournament
Like every other golfer in 19th Holes around the world, Scheffler ran through a card filled with “could have beens” and “should haves.” There was the 7-footer for birdie at No. 5: “Really good putt, just stayed high,” he said. The 20-footer for birdie at No. 6: “Ball’s on the edge [of the cup].” The 15-footer for birdie at No. 7: “Edge.” The 3 ½-footer for birdie at No. 10: “Only putt I would like to have back,” he conceded. The 12-footer at No. 13 and 7-footer at No. 14 for birdies: “Burned the edge.”
As frustrating as his putting woes have been, and they have been frustrating, Scheffler conceded there has been a cause-and-effect element to his current plight.
“I think a little bit of my struggles with the putting have probably helped me sort of elevate my ball striking just because if I’m trying to compete out here, with the putts not going in, I got to hit it really good and I’ve been able to do that,” he said. “If I was putting the best this week, I would have won by a crazy amount of shots.”
If that sounds like the lament of a chronically poor putter, consider that last year’s Masters champion ranked 58th on Tour in ‘22 in strokes gained: putting. He’s never been confused for Jordan Spieth on the greens, but thanks to his machine-like ball-striking he doesn’t have to be a magician with a putter to win consistently.
It’s that reality that likely allows Scheffler to maintain his optimism amid all the aggravation and exhaustion.