Scottie Scheffler identifies the key flaw in his game at the Hero World Challenge

It was his first event since the Ryder Cup back in September, so it is no surprise that he was a bit rusty.

Usually, the short game is the first thing to slip after time away from competition, and that proved true in this case.

Scheffler lost strokes around the greens and found himself just behind when it mattered.

“Yeah, a good amount of confidence. I felt like I did some good things. I saw some progress on some of the stuff I was working on in the offseason,” the world number one said to NBC Sports.

“I definitely needed to be a little sharper around the greens this week. I felt like that cost me a little bit. That’s probably a bit of rust. I’ll go home and have five or six weeks to get ready for next season.”

Scottie Scheffler’s statistics back up short game criticism

Looking at the strokes gained stats from the Hero World Challenge, it is clear where Scheffler’s frustration came from.

He dropped an average of 0.60 shots per round in that category – the only one where he was in negative numbers for the week.

On a more positive note, his putting and driving both looked sharp, ranking among the better numbers in the field.

Interestingly, his approach play – usually one of his biggest strengths – was right around field average this time. Expect him to focus on that area before the 2026 PGA Tour season gets underway.