PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Comparisons with last year will be inevitable for Scottie Scheffler, even if they are unfair. Nobody should expect him to match the kind of golf he displayed in 2024 and yet with the Masters less than three weeks away, it is difficult to not at least wonder where things stand.
The hand injury Scheffler suffered in a freak Christmas Day accident is presenting no physical issues, but it put the No. 1-ranked player behind as the season began and he’s still working through some aspects of his game, particularly around the greens.
Scheffler tied for 20th at the Players Championship, shooting a higher score each day, eight shots back of eventual winner Rory McIlroy and playoff participant J.J. Spaun at an event he won each of the past two years.
He ranked 46th in strokes-gained around the green and 44th in putting for the week, shooting a final-round 73 and appearing frustrated at times. It’s kind of the nature of TPC Sawgrass, especially with the windy conditions on Saturday.
But this is where he won each of the past two years and—while again unfair—he had two victories to this point a year ago and none right now.
“I walk away from this week feeling close,” Scheffler said. “I feel like there’s some stuff that I need to work on at home, but I feel very close. Overall I felt like I did some good things this week, felt like I could have done some other things better. But overall don’t feel far off by any means. Definitely excited to get home, get a little practice in and get ready for Houston.”
That would be the next week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open, which will be Scheffler’s last event prior to defending his title at Augusta National next month.
To keep things in perspective: in five starts so far, Scheffler has three top-11 finishes. He tied for ninth in his first event at Pebble Beach, tied for 25th at the WM Phoenix Open, tied for third at the Genesis Invitational played at Torrey Pines and was tied for 11th at the Arnold Palmer the week prior to the Players.
One of the big factors in Scheffler’s success last year was improved putting. He won twice in 2023 and had several more opportunities thwarted by average to substandard putting weeks.
A switch to a mallet putter before the Arnold Palmer last year made a huge difference, with Scheffler claiming consecutive events before finishing second in Houston and then winning the Masters.
He ended up winning four signature events in addition to the Masters and Players and Tour Championship.
Scheffler added an Olympic gold medal as well as a victory at the unofficial Hero World Challenge.
It was at the latter event where he unveiled a claw putting grip for shorter putts, basically 15 feet and in. Perhaps he is not mastering that technique as much as he would like at the moment. He is 93rd on the PGA Tour in strokes-gained putting.
Asked about his frustration level afterward, Scheffler acknowledged it.
“It’s just one of those things,” he said. “I’m a competitive guy, and I felt like I could have played a lot better this week. Like I said, I’m really close. I maybe finished the week 4 under par. I felt like I played some better golf than that. Looking forward to fine-tuning things next week and then getting ready for Houston.”
Scheffler became the first player to repeat at the Players and expecting him to do it three years in a row was quite the ask.
He has noted several times this year already that what he did in any tournament a year prior is really of not value in the present, aside from the knowledge that you did it. Different players, different course conditions, different year.
“Obviously being able to repeat here was very special and I would have liked to have done it a third time,” he said. “At the end of the day, I just didn’t have what it took this week. The guys that are ahead of me on the leaderboard, there’s many of them, so they obviously played better than I did.
“But yeah, it’s cool going into the locker room, turning left, going to the champions side, and I have a lot of great memories here from both my wins.”
Joaquin Niemann on the majors
For the second time in four LIV Golf tournaments, Joaquin Niemann was a winner Sunday. He captured the LIV Golf Singapore event by pulling away from second-round co-leader Dustin Johnson, shooting a final-round 65 at Sentosa Golf Club.
Niemann, 26, has been a stronger player for some time, with some impressive victories outside of LIV as well, including the 2023 Australian Open.
The Chilean golfer has lamented his inability to access majors via the LIV Golf format but has worked to try to qualify for them and his standing in the world along with his desire to compete outside of LIV Golf has been rewarded. The Masters and PGA Championship have again given him special invites this year.
And if he can remain in the No. 1 position in the LIV Golf individual standings, he will earn a spot at the U.S. Open.
While ranked 81st in the Official World Golf Ranking heading into the weekend—LIV events are not accredited—he was also 15th in Data Golf’s rankings, which include LIV players. That has him ahead of reigning U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.
Niemann now needs to take advantage of those opportunities. Because if there is one thing missing on an otherwise solid resume, it’s major success. Or lack thereof.
“I have it on my mind,” Niemann said following his victory in Singapore. “I know that I’ve been playing great out here, and if I look back into my stats, I haven’t had a great result in majors. It’s something that kind of bothers me all the time.
“But I feel like if I see the bigger picture and—I saw an interview the other day from Greg Norman back in the day when he was World No. 1 and hadn’t won a major yet, and I liked his answer because it’s completely true. If you ask me, I’m pretty sure and I’m pretty calm about it because I know it’s going to come. I know I’m going to win a major. I know it’s going to happen. Maybe not at the Masters this next three weeks, maybe yes. I have no idea. I just know it’s going to happen.”
In 22 major starts, Niemann has missed seven cuts and has no top-10 finishes. His best is a tie for 16th at the 2023 Masters.
Earlier this year, he tied for third at the International Series India tournament and late last year won the Saudi International. He also tied for fifth at the Australian Open and his tie for seventh at the at DP World Tour Championship helped him finish among the top 30 in the Race to Dubai standings, which makes him exempt into the Open.
“All I’m worried about is how I’m going to improve and how I’m going to feel better in those tough situations because the sooner and the more I learn from those situations, I feel like the more ready I’m going to be,” he said. “The way my game is trending, I know it’s going to happen eventually, so I’m pretty calm knowing that.
“I feel like I’m just proud of the work that I’m putting in... I’m really looking forward for the next two weeks that I have to get ready and put the best preparation and the most effort so I can build that confidence for those two weeks.”
After those two weeks, Niemann plays in the LIV Golf Miami event April 4-6 followed by the Masters.
Rory and senior golf
He’s 35 years old with seemingly years of good golf ahead of him. So Rory McIlroy could have easily deflected an innocuous question posed to him ahead of the Players Championship about senior golf.
It was part of an interesting week that saw him prevail with a playoff victory on Monday.
But he was heckled by a spectator Tuesday, leading to a confrontation with a University of Texas golfer, of all people. He got the usual array of questions about the future of the game regarding the ongoing negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia and said he’d like to see at least a dozen tournaments with the top players in the world.
The background to the question about senior golf concerned McIlroy’s thoughts on when he’ll know his career is waning.
“I think when I’ve achieved everything I want to achieve in the game and I get to the point where I don’t think I can maybe do that anymore,” he said. “I’d also like to walk away with a little bit left in the tank. I don’t want to be out there embarrassing myself. I’d like to walk away maybe a little before I should. Put it that way.
“There’s always one more, but that’s O.K. I think if you can come to terms with that and walk away on your own terms, then that's a good thing.”
What followed was a query about PGA Tour Champions for players age 50 and over and if the format remains the same ... and McIlroy didn’t allow the questioner to finish.
“Absolutely not. I will not play Champions Tour golf,” McIlroy said. “Look, I’ve said a lot of absolutes in my time that I’ve walked back, but I do not envision playing Champions Tour golf. Something has went terribly wrong if I have to compete at golf at 50.”
McIlroy’s comments were somewhat surprising. Many players his age have said over the years they didn’t expect to be playing that long. Circumstances can change.
Ernie Els was one to find them “interesting,” posting on social media.
“At 35 years old I was also bullet proof saying things about not playing past 50,” he wrote. “I’m 55 now and laughing at my comments from then. Champions Tour golf is so fulfilling with a great bunch of players we all grew up together from junior golf ... Competition is a powerful tool!”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scottie Scheffler Has Set His Bar So High That a Winless Year Is Questioned in March.
