Brandel Chamblee left stunned by Scottie Scheffler moment at Hero World Challenge

The 29-year-old’s hopes faded after the par-five 11th.

Following a strong drive, he had just under 300 yards left to the green but chose to hit driver off the deck despite some mud on his ball. The shot hooked badly, ending up under a bush well left of the target, and he walked away with a bogey.

And speaking on Golf Channel, Brandel Chamblee remarked that he was surprised by how many mistakes Scheffler made over the week.

“Go back to finishing up yesterday [in the third round] at the 18th. I think this is a mental mistake. We saw him make more mental mistakes this week than I think I have ever seen him make. Play at the fat of the green. If you over-cut it, you get it close. You get it close when you miss,” Chamblee began by saying.

“Clearly, he’s going right at it, pushed it a bit, so his dispersion, right part of his cone, puts him in a spot where he’s unlikely to get up and down. Made bogey.

“And today, I’ve never seen him make a worse mental mistake than he made today. There was mud on the front of that ball. He takes driver off the deck. Tiger Woods up in the commentary booth later said, ‘well, I’d probably have taken an iron, hit it low, punched it down there, try and scuff off that mud’. But instead, a birdie opportunity gone awry. He makes bogey.

“And then again at the 12th, a rare, poor iron shot where he short-sides himself. I don’t recall him short-siding himself as often as he did this week.”

Scottie Scheffler never quite figured out this Albany hole during the week

What stands out for the rest of the PGA Tour is that Scheffler was nowhere near his best, but still tied for fourth. Even with an eagle on the 15th, he had a real chance to reach 22-under and catch up to the leaders.

He could not find another birdie after that. And on 16, it was no surprise, given how much trouble that hole gave him over the four rounds.

Chamblee pointed out that Scheffler never seemed comfortable on that hole all week.

“He lost by two this week. Try and sum up why he lost by two this week, clearly, the 16th hole is a nemesis for him. Let’s go back to the first round – he did make par here, but I don’t think we’ve seen too many tee shots where he loses control of the driver – literally and metaphorically. He got lucky, made par.

“The luck ran out in round number two. I know this is a long hole, I know this is a tough hole, and I know it’s easy to say this sitting here, but I don’t know why he didn’t hit three wood off this tee. That went through the fairway, ended up in a palmetto bush. He made double bogey,” the former golfer stated.

He added: “This is Saturday. This tee shot ended up in an awkward spot; technically, maybe the fairway, but a severe downslope, and from there, he pulled his second shot into a bunker and it plugged and made bogey.

“Today, again, talk about getting lucky – look where this one could have ended up. It gets into the palmetto bush, deep, looks like it’s going to be unplayable. And then, it’s like wait, that’s the number one player in the world, spit it back out. He made par, very lucky to do that.”

Some rivals may have been encouraged by Scheffler’s uncharacteristic shots. But despite playing far below his best, the frightening thing is that he stayed well-placed on the leaderboard.