Taking stock of Scottie Scheffler heading into golf's summer slate

Here are Scottie Scheffler’s finishes on the PGA Tour since his win at the Players Championship back in March: fourth, tied for 10th, tied for 11th, tied for fifth, tied for second (at the PGA Championship) and tied for third. 

Even without a victory in the two-plus months since his five-shot romp at TPC Sawgrass, Scheffler is still utterly rolling. In fact, the last time he finished worse than joint 12th was at The C.J. Cup in South Carolina, an event that took place last October. Yes, October. 

A quick peek at the stats add to just how in form the Texas alum is at the moment. Scheffler is first on tour in strokes gained: total, strokes gained: off the tee, strokes gained: tee to green and greens hit in regulation. 

He is also second on tour in strokes gained: approach, and sixth in scrambling. For context, strokes gained data measures a golfer’s performance on every shot relative to the rest of the field. 

Plus, Scheffler passes the eye test with flying colors. He hits towering iron shots that stop on a dime, can work the ball both ways — although, with the driver, he typically relies on the more repeatable fade shape — and has some of the best hands in the game. 

Right now, it is Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka as the three top dogs in men's golf. That much is clear.

But, as the summer stretch run approaches, another thing is clear. For Scheffler to capitalize on his current form, and add to his current tally of six tour wins and one major (at last year’s Masters), then the putter has to heat up. In a hurry.

The numbers on the greens are as concerning as the ball striking and scrambling numbers are stellar. Scheffler ranks 114th on tour in strokes gained: putting, 79th in putts per round and 148th in one-putt percentage. 

Given that he usually sticks it close to the hole, the New Jersey native is rarely at risk of three-putting, but converting the 10-to-20 footers is often what separates the contenders from the victors at the end of the week.

Scheffler acknowledged his putting woes after his final round at this past weekend’s Charles Schwab Challenge, telling CBS’ Amanda Renner “it just seems like the hole looks small.” 

The 26-year-old said that while he felt uncomfortable over the ball while putting at Augusta, he has noticed progress on the greens since then.

That progress still did not amount to significantly improved results at Colonial. Despite a Sunday ace to vault up the leaderboard, Scheffler ended up one shot short of a playoff — which was won by Emiliano Grillo, who outlasted Adam Schenk.