World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler continues to struggle with his biggest weakness

Scottie Scheffler fired a two-under 70 on Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented By Mastercard, but the stats paint a familiar picture. The 27-year-old remains a lousy putter — even with a new putter.

At a challenging layout at Bay Hill Club and Lodge, Scheffler gained 1.55 strokes off the tee, the best mark in the field. He also hit 15 of 18 greens. However, the world's No. 1-ranked golfer lost 1.56 strokes on the greens and ranked 64th of 69 players in total putts (31).

Scheffler missed a six-footer for birdie on the first hole, a seven-footer for birdie on the third and a three-footer for birdie on the 16th. Turn those into makes and Scheffler would be tied for the lead.  

At The Genesis Invitational in February, Rory McIlroy spoke about Scheffler's infamous putting struggles and dished advice on how to fix them.

"For me, going to a mallet was a big change," he said during the CBS broadcast after his final round (h/t: golf.com). "I really persisted with the blade putter for a long time, but I just feel like your stroke has to be so perfect to start the ball on line, where the mallet just gives you a little bit more margin for error.

"So, I’d love to see Scottie try a mallet, but selfishly for me, you know, Scottie does everything else so well that, you know, he’s giving the rest of us a chance."

He's got that right.

Ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Scheffler replaced his not-so-trusty blade putter for a TaylorMade Spider Tour X mallet. But it made no difference.

Scheffler leads the PGA Tour this season in strokes gained from tee to green, strokes gained on approach and greens in regulation percentage. He did the same last year, but he had only two wins to show for his dominant tee-to-green play.

In 2024, Scheffler ranks 144th in strokes gained from putting, a small improvement from 2023, when he ranked 162nd. However, the American ranks 180th out of 186 players in putting from inside 10 feet.

It's only one round, but the mallet putter didn't immediately fix the problem Scheffler is desperately trying to fix before major season rolls around.