Three starts after returning from hand surgery caused by an injury he sustained at Christmas dinner, Scottie Scheffler was asked to assess how his game felt.
He conceded that he’s not Tiger Woods.
“It’s not easy to come out here and play competitive golf at a high level and get right back to where I was last year, losing those weeks that I had at home where I couldn't do anything,” Scheffler said after the Genesis Invitational’s final round. “I think some of that makes it even more impressive what Tiger's able to do off of his surgeries and long layoffs and just come out and compete with us is pretty miraculous.”
Scheffler, the world No. 1, has played in each of the last three weeks, placing T9, T25 and T3.
In Round 3 of the Genesis, Scheffler shot 4-over 76, his highest round since the final day of the 2022 Players Championship — a span of 212 rounds.
However, he bounced back with a 6-under 66 Sunday and rose five spots on the leaderboard, finishing three strokes back of champion Ludvig Åberg.
Scheffler felt a Sunday surge coming.
HOLE GOT IN THE WAY!
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 16, 2025
Scottie Scheffler vaults to T2 after this hole-out 👀
📺 CBS pic.twitter.com/gkmNzp5Ggm
“It was funny, I was sitting on that table yesterday getting worked on and Meredith (his wife) asked me about my day,” Scheffler said. “I said, ‘to be honest with you, I feel in a better spot today than I did yesterday. I think going into today's round I just tried to have a better attitude.’ Felt like at times yesterday in the round I tried to press a little bit as I was falling behind.”
That mindset paved the way for his best finish of the year. Considering where he was a month ago, he’s content despite not claiming the victory.
“Coming back after a four-ish-week layoff and not really having a ton of time to prep, I’m pretty pleased,” the 28-year-old said. “Like I said on Friday, I'm trying to do myself to stay patient with myself, which can be tough because I have high expectation and I think when I get out here and start competing, I definitely forget that I had lost some of the progress I made in the offseason.”
Therefore, Scheffler hasn’t put Woods-esque pressure on himself to return to the winner’s circle after doing so seven times in 2024. Maybe, though, that will change when he tees it up again in three weeks at Bay Hill, a course where he has won twice.
“I’m trying to give myself a little bit of grace and some patience kind of getting back into the swing of things,” the 13-time Tour winner said. “I did some things in the last few weeks that I’m happy with and definitely some things that I need to improve on.”
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Still Finding Groove After Surgery, Scottie Scheffler Befuddled by Tiger Woods.
