Scottie Scheffler knows this Players Championship is out of reach. Even after a bogey-free, five-under 67, the World No. 1 is too far back at TPC Sawgrass to be a factor come Sunday.
“Not unless it starts blowing like 30 miles an hour,” Scheffler said with a chuckle when asked if he might still have a chance to win his third Players.
Scheffler has not been himself this week. At the very least, he hasn’t been the relentless world-beater who has lorded over golf for the last several years. He has struggled with the driver, although that was better Saturday. His normally pristine approach play has continued to dip, taking him from historically lethal to just really good. The putter has been hot and cold, and his normally crisp short game has left something to be desired.
After a sloppy first round that saw Scheffler battle the right miss off the tee, the World No. 1 went straight to work on the TPC Sawgrass range and pounded balls for hours in the rain. Scheffler will tell you he wasn’t “searching” for anything. A search implies something is “lost,” and that’s not Scheffler. He’s working, grinding. But searching? No.
It would be easy to look at this week for Scheffler, where he still sits outside the top 20 and has been spending an inordinate amount of time in the rough and wooded areas of TPC Sawgrass, as a lost week. Scheffler has won this tournament twice. He’s a four-time major champion who has been omnipresent on leaderboards even when he brings his C-game. He’s at the point in his career where his results are viewed as a binary: win or lose. It’s an unusual sight to see the normally exacting Scheffler fighting to get the ball to go where he desires while not being a factor in the championship proceedings.
But it’s also where one of the key reasons for his greatness is illuminated.
Prior to the tournament, Scheffler was asked about how he manages his expectations. The wins have rolled in like a deluge over the past few years. He has won on all types of courses, in all types of ways. The adversity has been minimal, but he arrived at the Players Championship having gone T12-T24 in his last two starts. Expectations, especially internal ones, can be an anchor if they become outsized. They can consume you if you let them.
But Scheffler, amid some mild irritation at the suggestion that his play has not been measuring up to his standard, explained that he views everything, all of this, through a different lens. There are expectations, yes, but they aren’t tournament-specific. The results are important, but Scheffler is focused on the micro, on controlling everything he can. That’s the foundation of what he’s built.
“I think that’s kind of a funny question, because if you flipped my season around, what did I finish last week? Like 24th or something — 24th and 12th, and like 3rd and 4th, and a win. Would your question be the same if I was coming from 3rd, 4th, win?” Scheffler said on Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass. “So that’s my point. It’s like your expectations of me are living week by week. My expectations of myself is almost more shot by shot.
“When it comes to my golf game and my expectations of myself, my expectations all are based around what I want for me mentally on the golf course as being committed to what I can do, and controlling that aspect.”
For Scheffler, the greatness is a result of that process. That process is rooted in a feeling. That’s why he lands all the way on the artist side of golf’s artist-scientist debate. He’ll look at stats and numbers, but only pay them mind if they match how he feels. He trusts his instinct more than data. Range sessions aren’t so much about fixing an issue as they are about slightly recalibrating things so Scheffler has it. That leads to control, which manifests in results.
“My feel is what I trust the most,” Scheffler said. “So, like there’s been certain instances in my career where I may have had a really good round, and I get off the golf course and [coach Randy Smith] will go, ‘Great job, that was awesome.’ And I’ll be like, We got to go to the driving range. Like, this isn’t going to work another couple days.”
Of course, part of Scheffler’s process is a need to focus on the feel — on each swing — rather than acknowledging any bigger, looming issues lest they continue to manifest. He tells himself he’s not searching for anything because acknowledgment that he’s “lost” might lead to a downward spiral that could prove more difficult to solve. Part of the generational athlete gig is having unwavering self-belief even when evidence points to the contrary — believing you can control everything and, in doing so, shaping reality at your will.
That unique part of greatness has been on display this week at TPC Sawgrass as Scheffler marches toward the end of what many might see as a lost week in the zero-sum game of elite professional golf. But to Scheffler, there can be no wasted swings. You can get something out of everything, win or lose, and that can pay off later.
This week is no different.
“I think with the way I hit it the first couple days, to kind of have the attitude that I did and the fight that I did, I think that — when I look at tournaments, I’m not thinking about winning, I’m thinking about approaching things the right way,” Scheffler said on Saturday. “I did my best to stay committed and I did a good job I think of keeping the right attitude and keeping my head on straight in order to grind out a couple rounds that were difficult. … So overall I think I’ve been in a good spot with how my attitude and commitment have been to my shots. So that’s, for me that’s a good week.”
Scheffler has one more walk around TPC Sawgrass to go. The trophy that he has hoisted twice won’t be waiting for him when he finishes. Not this time. Scheffler’s Players Championship has been jarring at times for those of us accustomed to his unrelenting greatness.
But to him, it was a successful week in his process — one defined by feel and not a four-day total. One that allows him to determine whether or not he’s where he needs to be.
