‘Borderline unfair’: The 2 keys to Scottie Scheffler’s lights-out putting week

It was no use trying to catch Scottie Scheffler on Sunday. If you haven’t heard, his putter got hot.

Scheffler has already been one of the elite ball-strikers on the PGA Tour the last few years, but the flat stick hasn’t always cooperated. But, when it does, like in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill…

“It would be borderline unfair if he starts putting really good,” said Wyndham Clark, who shot 70 on Sunday and finished solo second, five strokes behind Scheffler. “I never want to wish ill on anybody, but if he starts putting positive each week it’s going to be really hard to beat.”

He might be right. Scheffler’s five-stroke win was the largest margin of victory on Tour this season and the largest at Bay Hill since Tiger Woods won by the same margin in 2012.

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And a major reason was due to that hot putter. Scheffler gained 4.347 strokes on the field on greens for the week, which ranked fifth overall, but his Sunday effort (3.892 strokes gained putting) ranked first.

Sure, he also led the field in Strokes Gained: Off the tee and was 12th in Strokes Gained: Approach, but those weren’t outliers. On the season he ranks in the top 10 in all major strokes gained categories — but still 107th in putting.

What was Scheffler’s key? There were two. One was the TaylorMade Spider Tour X mallet he recently put in the bag — more on that putter switch here — and the other was his mindset, which he spoke about again on Sunday. He said it’s been important to keep the mind as quiet as possible.

“Part of the problem is just trying too hard. It’s frustrating to not have the best of myself, just because I know that I can putt really well,” Scheffler said. “It’s not like I’ve been a bad putter my whole career. I’ve just gone through a stretch where it’s been tough. I think this week I did a really good job of not letting the misses get to me. [My caddie] Teddy did a really good job of keeping me in a good head space and we stayed positive out there and I hit a lot of good putts, a lot of good putts this week.”

As for if he’s found the putter he plans to use for a while, including at this week’s Players Championship, where he’s already the defending champion and where he’ll be the betting favorite?

“Hopefully,” he said, laughing. “I like not having to line the ball up; I line this putter up well in the middle of the face. It’s very good visually. And yeah, I try not to focus too much on the results, but my process was really good this week and the results so far are pretty tough to argue with, I would say.”