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Why Scottie Scheffler’s chances of winning The Masters have increased despite his Houston Open withdrawal

Originally posted on HITC | By Jordan Harris | Last updated Mar 26, 2026 10:00 AM ET

When news of Scottie Scheffler’s withdrawal from the Houston Open emerged, it was easy to think that his chances of winning The Masters next month had been dealt a sizeable blow.

Scheffler has not been at his best in the opening months of 2026. He did win The American Express on his first start of the year, but his results since then have been somewhat underwhelming.

It says everything about how good Scheffler has been over the last few years that two finishes just outside the top 20 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship set alarm bells ringing.

In truth, the world number one is still going to be a favourite to win The Masters. In fact, his withdrawal from the Texas Children’s Houston Open perhaps makes a third victory at Augusta National even more likely.

Scottie Scheffler has struggled to hide his frustration in 2026

Scheffler has been prickly with the media of late. He has certainly rejected the notion that he has a problem to deal with after a number of slow starts.

Meanwhile, he seems offended whenever it is put to him that he is struggling to hit the heights of 2024 and 2025.

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Admittedly, any other player would probably be delighted with Scheffler’s results this season.

There is an argument that Scheffler plays some of his best golf when the expectations are a little lower.

How Scheffler has previously performed after some of the bigger setbacks in his career

Scheffler won The Players Championship in 2024 having required treatment on a neck injury. He was clearly severely limited at TPC Sawgrass, yet still came from five shots back heading into the final round to win.

He produced arguably the best round of his career on Friday at the PGA Championship later that year. That 66 at Valhalla came hours after he had been arrested outside of the golf course.

Most players would not have dreamed of still playing after such a traumatic incident.

Meanwhile, he somehow managed to finish fourth at The Masters 12 months ago despite a hand injury that delayed his start to the season.

One of the last question marks over Scheffler concerned whether he could find his best form in The Open Championship.

A difficult week on the greens at the Scottish Open dampened expectations before he got to Royal Portrush. But he went on to record one of the most comfortable major victories seen in a long time the following week in Northern Ireland.

So while it may be tempting to look at Scheffler not playing after Sawgrass and question his chances of winning The Masters, it is probably not a good idea to write him off at all.

Scheffler’s chances of playing his best golf have potentially increased now that he is going ever so slightly under the radar heading into the first major of the year.

This article first appeared on HITC and was syndicated with permission.

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