Anyone with sense or money would tell you that on Sunday, Scottie Scheffler is likely to finish off his third major victory and first PGA Championship win. That’s impressive as heck; it’s just not necessarily surprising.
What is surprising is the guy in third. And what’s satisfying is the way he got there.
Davis Riley is a very good golfer and has been for years; he was a two-time All-American at Alabama and seemed destined for success at the next level. He won on the Korn Ferry Tour, he played his way onto the PGA Tour and last year he won there, too. But then? Things suddenly got tougher.
Riley’s win at the 2024 Charles Schwab Challenge, one year ago next week, came out of nowhere; it was his first top-10 finish of the season. But the stretch that came after was even bleaker: He played 11 tournaments the rest of the year and his best result was T38. Particularly frustrating was his lack of control with his irons, which had always been a hallmark of his game when he was playing his best.
He made the turn into 2025 and things looked ever worse; he shot 80 in his first tournament of the year and ultimately withdrew, then missed his next four cuts. But then? Something clicked. He made the cut at the Cognizant, then cracked the top 10 in Puerto Rico, then again at the Valspar. He posted a solid T21 finish at the Masters. And now, at the year’s second major, he enters the final round T3; he’ll tee off in the penultimate pairing.
So, how’d he do it? In particularly pleasing fashion: by being himself.
“It was a pretty big struggle to start the year, and, yeah, there was a couple tweaks I made in my swing trying to get back to some of my old DNA,” Riley said after Saturday’s round at Quail Hollow. What that means is that Riley ditched the idea of perfect and embraced the idea of being himself. More specifically it means he embraced hitting a draw with his irons (and a small cut with his driver).
“It’s easy, us golfers, to get obsessive about neutral,” Riley said. That’s an understatement; particularly in this era of driving-range launch monitors, it’s easy for pros to chase the perfect number. Riley got caught up in that game. “I spent a lot of the off-season trying to really straighten out my ball flight and almost even see a little bit of cut with my irons,” he said.
Early in 2025, he tried to commit to that same ball flight in competition. He’d aim at the flag, planning for a straight ball or a little cut. But then he’d bail out, stuck between his ideal and his DNA.
“It was just a really awkward spot for me,” he said. But now? Riley’s leaning into what feels right. His explanation on his work with coach Jeff Smith:
“So I feel like when I’m playing my best golf I’m seeing about a 5- or 10-yard draw with my irons and seeing that path around one and a half to two and a half [degrees]. I spent a lot of time in the off-season trying to neutral it out. With the longer stuff, I would say 7- to 4-iron, I can start seeing it curve too much. I was like, I need to zero this out, especially in right-to-left winds I kind of struggle, and I felt like, I don’t know, I got obsessive with being zeroed out and it didn’t really work out for me.
“I’m starting to see a lot of that proper curvature, and I think having control with my irons and the driver has been a big reason why I’ve been playing better.”
Some version of be yourself is terrific life advice, and often good swing advice, too; it’s something we hear echoed among resurgent pros again and again. But being yourself is, of course, a better strategy if “yourself” is Davis Riley, one of the more talented golfers on the planet.
He is, if you’ll accept the cliche, already a winner for making it this far. Now all that’s left to become the actual winner is chasing down the world No. 1. How much does Riley want it?
“Really bad,” he said. “I’d love to be standing on 18 green holding that trophy. But there’s a lot of golf left, and I’m just looking forward to the challenge. Regardless of what happens, I’m going to try my best and try to put up a good fight, and if I can do that and stay within myself, I’ll be really happy.”
“Happy” sounds better than “neutral,” anyway.
