At this weekend’s Masters, a portion of Scottie Scheffler’s post-round interview went viral. A member of the media asked the world No. 1 whether he thought Saturday’s bogey-free 65 was a fair score given the way he was playing. Scheffler ridicules the Inquisition, saying at best, but he continues to ask questions, eventually answering the first question with a grain of salt.
During this “down” period last month, Scheffler’s dominance didn’t desert him, but some parts of his game did. He experienced slow starts in three consecutive tournaments: the WM Phoenix Open, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and the Genesis Invitational. He entered the Masters outside of the top 80 on the PGA Tour’s stroke-gained approach, and his iron play was significantly behind compared to previous seasons.
He arrived at the Masters with three consecutive finishes outside the top 10 (T12, T24, T22), something he hadn’t done since late in the 2022(!) season. The incredibly high bar he had cleared over the past four seasons was now causing problems for the four-time major champion — and that was all anyone could say.
This led some, but not everyone, to question his chances of winning his third career green jacket in just five years. After starting the weekend at even-par, 12 strokes off the pace set by Rory McIlroy, the conversation turned up the volume. But what wasn’t mentioned was that he was only six strokes behind second place. McIlroy’s performance through 36 holes was an outlier, but it wasn’t treated as such when talking about Scheffler.
2026 Masters highlights: Scottie Scheffler returns to form, Cameron Young proves he’s next
Robbie Calland
Again, those pesky standards.
nevertheless, It was McIlroy who wore the green jacket. By the end of the week, Scheffler may have won something else — quiet, away from the noisy outside world. He became the first player since 1942, and perhaps the first in tournament history since records don’t go back that far, to play an Augusta National weekend without a bogey.
He had a seven-shot lead over McIlroy on Saturday, and closed the gap by another four on Sunday. The alternate reality in which Scheffler wins his third green jacket is far away in space. It’s 1 or 2 strokes. This is not to diminish McIlroy’s accomplishments, which is never what I had in mind, but to show how close Scheffler was on the final leaderboard, by more than just one stroke.
Where he could have made up a few shots ended up staring everyone in the face, including Scheffler.
He played the second par-5 ninth (13th and 15th) of the tournament at 1 over. Ironically, until Sunday’s birdie on No. 15, Scheffler had been out of position the most all week to card a par breaker on one of those holes, but he hadn’t cirked on those two holes all week.
On Friday, he hit both approach shots from the fairway into the water and suffered two bogeys. 2 bogeys, 1 birdie, 5 pars. McIlroy, on the other hand, had six under par, six birdies and two pars on eight attempts on those holes.
His birdie try on No. 17 in the final round went viral online with the caption, “This close to a playoff between McIlroy and Scheffler,” but I don’t buy that nonsense. The butterfly effect, the rhythm of the tournament, the different mental states and environments — I don’t know how it happens. that A tournament will be held.
But we may see how the rest of the year goes.
Just days after suggesting he might no longer be the best player in the world (that opinion is out there, believe me), Scheffler seemed to have silenced any doubts, at least for the time being. He gained nearly 5.50 strokes on the approach in the third round and added another four strokes in the field in the fourth round. His scrambling was sublime and kept him in this tournament even though his iron play was scratchy at times.
The complete game that Scheffler has and that everyone knows he has (and seems to forget at the first sign of trouble) was on full display. I hope this article is a reminder to take a long-term view in a busy sport that is constantly on the move week after week.
McIlroy won this match. He grappled with his own questions about how he could come back from a six-shot lead. He answered with the heart of a champion, but sometimes with the best of him. He also dealt with missed opportunities like Scheffler.
Every player in this field, and every golfer around the world, can shave a few strokes off when they look back on their round in their heads later.
But none of us are Scottie Scheffler. If there’s still some unsqueezed juice left, he’ll find a way to get those last few drops next time.
