Scottie Scheffler has rarely shown signs of giving up his place at the top of the world rankings since he returned to the summit last May. One incredible stat, which he added to in the second round of The Players Championship, offers a good indication as to why.
As first reported by TaylorMade Golf, the American has put together an astonishing 25 successive under-par rounds on the PGA Tour stretching back seven months.
With a 69 (-3) today, Scottie Scheffler has now fired 25 straight rounds under par. The World No. 1 hasn't shot above par since last AUGUST. 🤯 #TeamTaylorMade pic.twitter.com/20Ux8PBHdHMarch 15, 2024
The last time Scheffler finished failed to finish under par was on the final day of the Tour Championship last August, when he shot an even-par 70.
Since then, he has racked up under-par rounds at The Sentry, The American Express, the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the WM Phoenix Open, the Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
This week, he’s at it again, with a five-under 67 on the opening day of the PGA Tour's flagship event followed by a three-under 69 on Friday, bringing his run to 25 so far.
What’s even more astonishing is that he also took part in unofficial PGA Tour event the Hero World Challenge during that run. Had it been an official event, that would have taken the figure to 29 after rounds of 69,66,65 and 68 saw Scheffler claim the trophy by three ahead of Sepp Straka.
Perhaps even more incredibly, he has also complied the run during a spell where he has endured well-documented putting issues. He changed his putter in time for last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, but even then it was a similar story in the first round, as he finished near the bottom of the field on the greens, yet still achieved a two-under 70.
Scheffler's fortunes improved on the greens as the tournament progressed, though, and he eventually claimed his seventh PGA Tour win as his putting markedly improved, with a five-under 67, two-under 70 and six-under 66 to complete the tournament.
Not only that, but Scheffler achieved the latest in his run at this week's TPC Sawgrass tournament despite suffering from a neck problem that saw him undergo treatment on the course.
After Scheffler’s second round, which left the defending champion eight-under for the tournament and six behind leader Wyndham Clark heading into Moving Day, he said of the injury: “I hit a shot on my second hole today and I felt a little something in my neck, and then I tried to hit my tee shot on 12, and that's when I could barely get the club back.
“So I got some treatment, maybe it loosened up a tiny bit, but most of the day I was pretty much laboring to get the club somehow away from me.”
Considering the incredible run he’s on, if even that couldn’t make a noticeable dent in his score, it’s difficult to see exactly what will finally bring the sequence to an end.
