The post He’s Scottie Scheffler’s caddie. But Ted Scott’s story is so much bigger appeared first on Golf.

The post He’s Scottie Scheffler’s caddie. But Ted Scott’s story is so much bigger appeared first on Golf.

Inside the kitchen of his rural Louisiana home, Ted Scott likes to whip up stories. He’s an excellent talker — a common trait for a good caddie — and he speaks quickly, a natural spinner of quips and clever analogies.

“If there’s a story, he’s told it,” says his wife, Melanie.

Today, Scott is serving up breakfast too: eggs, bacon, avocado and toast. And cinnamon lattes meticulously concocted and poured into Masters mugs. There are millions of these ceramic collectibles in circulation, but how many are owned by a caddie who’s been on the bag for an actual Masters winner — something Scott has done four times in the past 14 years? He sets the frothy beverages in front of his guests.

Full disclosure: This story won’t entirely be about Ted Scott. He’s not trying to be rude; the 52-year-old devout Christian and looper for World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler rarely is. But that angle doesn’t interest him. Instead, we’re in his hometown of Lafayette, La., in balmy mid-January to visit places he’s passionate about and meet the people whose stories he thinks are important — the ones strapped with challenges but full of promise.

“It’s like, let’s help other people with the stuff that we’ve been given, with the blessings that I’ve received. Let’s pass it on,” Scott says. “I’ve never seen a U-Haul hooked up to a hearse, right? We can’t take it with us, so why are we getting all this blessing? What do we do with it? Let’s go help some people.”

On the golf course, Ted Scott understands the narrative shouldn’t be about him. Turns out that’s the way he lives his life too.

SCOTT’S SUV RUMBLES INTO a small parking lot off East Madison Street in the small nearby city of Opelousas. He’s a popular man around here — “Mr. Ted” is what most kids call him — but he’s not holding the spotlight today. He’s relinquishing it to Loren Carriere, who, beneath a giant “Grow Hope” sign, is pulling weeds in a community garden. It’s here, with Carriere’s help, that local kids coax arugula, collards, broccoli and strawberries from the lush soil.

Carriere, 44, is the executive director at Hope for Opelousas, a Christian community development ministry 24 miles north of Lafayette that provides free after-school educational support, mentoring and spiritual guidance to students in first through 12th grade. It’s an organization he helped start in 2008, when they had one yellow house on the corner of Madison and Walnut and a dozen kids. Now it’s more like a village: 10 houses, 125 students and six full-time employees.

Scott got involved when he met Carriere at a gym. They learned more about each other, and the caddie took an interest in Carriere’s mission. As a teen, Carriere got caught up in drugs. At 18, after a stint in jail, he went to a Christian-based rehab center in Mississippi called Home of Grace and left with a vision to help his hometown, where nearly half its residents live in poverty.

Inside the Hope house that hosts junior high students, Carriere points with pride to the photos of two dozen kids whose portraits line a wall. He talks about Kameron and Bre and others who represent just a small sample of the nonprofit’s success stories. His ambition is to meet the needs of 200 kids.

“I was lucky to have family that didn’t give up on me when I was at my lowest point,” Carriere says. “For me, it’s just my calling to be able to look at a young person and tell them I’ve been there, and to support them through the ups and the downs.”

Scott’s schedule doesn’t allow him to be on-site often, but Melanie and their two children, Gabrielle and Elijah, are involved as well.

“When I meet these people,” Scott says, “I can’t help but think, Why would God put me in a position to help? Because I’m gonna run into people like Loren — people who are gonna help other people. I want to get behind that.”

DAY ONE OF OUR ROAD TRIP includes good deeds in Opelousas and a dash of Ted-approved fun: a little pickleball, some foosball and a few local delicacies — boudin (Cajun sausage) and cracklins (fried pork skin) — dished out at a gas station. “But it’s a nice gas station,” he says, smiling.

Day two begins in downtown Lafayette, where he’s excited for us to meet Pastor Daniel “D.K.” Kelly.

“I’ll let him tell you his story,” Scott says. “But it’s just very powerful how God used golf to change his life.”

On East Simcoe Street, we step inside an abandoned Piggly Wiggly. Where you and I — and maybe even Scott — might see a hollowed-out building, D.K. looks around and sees a dream.

The 45-year-old Lafayette native used to sell crack on the Simcoe Strip, a high-crime area home to what once was one of the city’s most popular nightclub scenes. He was caught up in gangs, shot at, even stabbed. Perennially in and out of court, he caught a break at age 18. A judge let him walk, but with a stern warning. A prosecutor, encouraging him to get off the streets, had an unusual piece of advice: “Why don’t you go play golf?”

“I’m like, ‘Play golf?’” D.K. remembers. “I’m in the hood, right? We don’t play golf in the hood.”

Still, he couldn’t let go of the idea. Weeks later, with no concept of the game’s tiers of exclusivity or much of a clue how to play, D.K. strolled up to a local country club in basketball shorts and a muscle shirt. Asked to leave, he became irate, and the police were called. A member of the club, watching nearby, showed D.K. some grace by taking him to a Salvation Army and buying him golf slacks, polos and starter clubs. After dropping him at a driving range, he passed Lafayette’s newest golfer a ten-dollar bill and told him to buy a bucket of balls.

“That summer, I got a job at the range,” D.K. says. “So, I worked, played golf, got off the street, stopped selling drugs.”

In Mississippi, at Hinds Community College and Belhaven University, he found his game, lowering his handicap to a plus 2. In college, he found his faith too.

With a large-print Bible stolen from Dollar General (he’s given away 10,000 since, so he likes to think he’s been forgiven), he began leading Bible studies in his dorm room. At first it was three people, then 10, then 50. Eventually they filled a gymnasium.

To continue his ministry, D.K. returned to Lafayette without money but with a vision. He started preaching in a hotel room on the Simcoe Strip, then, in 2015, bought a nightclub and turned it into The Harvest Center Church. His congregation of 12 has since grown to 200.

In 2018, he was still playing tournament golf when he called one of the area’s most well-known part-time teachers for lessons: Ted Scott. They formed a friendship.

“I was like, ‘This dude is special,'” Scott remembers. “There’s just something about this guy that’s different, so I started talking with him, asking him questions. I started digging into his story.”

Scott sees passion in D.K.; you see it too when D.K. talks about his grand plans for the old Piggly Wiggly. He bought the building in December 2024 and intends to transform it into a 12,000-square-foot place of worship. Scott has helped with the fundraising — and with D.K.’s game too. A five-time tournament winner under Scott’s watchful eye, he’s even launched a learning center, where he gives golf lessons to inner-city kids. D.K. says he was once a menace to his own community. Now he wants to leave a legacy.

“When I’m gone, this church is gonna outlive me for generations,” he says. “Ted gets that. We get that.”

TED SCOTT GRAVITATES TOWARD two types of people: those he can learn from, and those he can help. The former is how he became not only one of the best caddies of his generation but also a world-class foosball player. During his senior year at Comeaux High School in Lafayette, he became fascinated by an intense foosball match he saw in a pool hall. He asked the best player he could find for lessons and later flunked out of college because he was spending too much time playing. In 1994, he and his buddy, Terry Rue, won an amateur doubles world foosball championship, although Scott still had dreams of playing professional golf. He was kicking around the mini-tour circuit when the Nike Tour came through Lafayette in 1999. After failing to qualify, he jumped on the bag for New Zealand journeyman Grant Waite hoping to pick up some pointers but instead stayed on as caddie. That led to a gig with Paul Azinger (who asked Scott to teach him how to play foosball) and eventually Bubba Watson.

Scott and Watson — who bonded over their Christian backgrounds — won the Masters together in 2012 and 2014. After they parted ways in 2021, Scott planned to retire and focus on teaching and ministry.

Then Scottie Scheffler called. After two weeks of praying for guidance, Scott agreed to take Scheffler’s bag in the fall of 2021. Their first win together — and the first PGA Tour victory of Scheffler’s career — came only months later at the 2022 WM Phoenix Open. Two months and two more Tour wins later, they triumphed at the Masters, which they won again in 2024, along with Olympic gold. Last year they added the PGA Championship and Open Championship to their list of major titles, and Scheffler won his fourth straight PGA Tour Player of the Year award — and with it, $26 million in 2025 on-course earnings. In just a few years, they’d morphed into the most dominant player/caddie duo in the game. As if to prove it, in January they jump-started their 2026 season with another Tour win — their 19th together — at the American Express.

Scott says Scheffler’s greatest gift isn’t what he can do with a golf club; it’s his willingness to ask for help. The first day they worked together, Scheffler quizzed Scott about chipping techniques. A few months later at Augusta, he leaned on Scott for pre-tournament preparation.

“He gives the reins away to people that probably aren’t as adequate as him, but it’s because he might learn something,” Scott says. “And he doesn’t agree with everything, but he’s like, ‘Let’s see what you got. Let’s see what you can teach me.’ That’s a great quality to have.”

Scott is quick to deflect praise; he says caddying is more about understanding the man than it is the other stuff. He says the one thing he does for Scheffler, which he also did with Watson, is hold him accountable for his attitude. But all those triumphs and Masters wins — one shy of the record (five) held by two loopers — don’t happen by accident.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that my career trajectory changed quite a bit when he came on the bag,” Scheffler said at last year’s Tour Championship. “I went from a guy that hadn’t won on Tour to a guy that started winning at a pretty good pace immediately upon him entering the picture. I think the results really do speak for themselves. He’s a great asset for me on the golf course. He’s a great friend, and I feel like we’re a really good team. He works super hard. He has a relentless work ethic as well. There’s a lot more to a great caddie than just giving me really good numbers all the time. Teddy has a lot of different roles on the course.”

Their bond, like the one Scott shared with Watson, is also rooted in their spirituality. Scott grew up believing in God but didn’t read the Bible until 2002, when he and Melanie were engaged and they began worshipping together. When he first heard a piece of Scripture that connected with him — Romans 3:23; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God — he sobbed.

“I was not a person who drank alcohol, didn’t smoke, didn’t cuss, but I definitely had a lot of bad stuff in my heart, wicked stuff in my heart that I just didn’t want people to know about,” Scott says. “And then once I heard that message, it was like, wow, this is good news that I don’t have to try to live up to a standard because I’m not capable of it.”

His faith has evolved since. Scott’s “Sunday Sermons” — short social media videos in which he offers encouragement, guidance or a life lesson — are wildly popular. He started them because he thought it would be good to have something positive on social media. He also launched an annual God-in-golf retreat with D.K. called “Who’s Your Caddie?” The first was three years ago in Alabama and included 15 men and three days of golf. Three types of people gather for these retreats: pastors (who aren’t allowed to be pastors on the trip); Christians who want to strengthen their beliefs; and others kicking the tires about their faith and eager to learn more. The idea is to spend time relating to each other and sharing burdens. The retreat has grown to 40 people and Scott has visions to expand it with chapters across the U.S. or by building a property to host it.

“We’ll pray for each other; we’ll lift each other up,” he says. “You know, ‘Let me get your phone number; let me encourage you.’ Now they’re walking together, and through life they have a buddy system. It’s just been incredible to see people who are struggling to come to life in a way that maybe they wouldn’t feel comfortable doing.”

ON A BASKETBALL COURT at Hope for Opelousas, Scott, a lanky 6 foot 3, leaps and tries to block a jumper from a teenager. At The Harvest Center Church, an interview is paused because he starts to play the drums. At Lafayette’s Oakbourne Country Club, he breaks from making goofy faces for a photographer to playfully heckle kids rolling putts on a nearby green.

I lean in and ask two of his close friends a question: “Is Ted like this all the—”

“Alllll the time,” they say in unison. 

Scott’s enthusiasm is infectious. He makes you feel better. He asks questions that seem rhetorical but are, in fact, meant to be answered. He spends little money on material things but gives generously to causes important to him, like the places we’ve visited. He prioritizes time with his family and calls his wife every day when he’s on the road and listens, which might not seem like much to him but means the world to her. He talks about big hearts and forgiveness and growing and loving. None of this is much of a superpower, but it feels like it. 

He can find inspiration anywhere, including at home, where his family has been dealing with the greatest challenge of their lives.

After breakfast, Scott asks, “Do you want to meet Joel?”

This wasn’t a planned stop but sometimes detours lead to the most important destinations.

Although he’s more like a son to Ted and Melanie, Joel is Scott’s 11-year-old nephew and has been living with them for the better part of the past two years.

On Saturday, August 9, 2025, Joel was shot in the head after a scuffle in a pickup basketball game and airlifted to a hospital in Baton Rouge. Joel’s mom, Hannah, called her sister Melanie, who also rushed to Joel’s side. Melanie called Scottie Scheffler’s wife, Meredith, who was with Scottie and Ted at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis. Ted jumped on a private plane — arranged and paid for by the Schefflers — and jetted to Baton Rouge immediately after that day’s round. Scheffler handled Scott’s absence and the inevitable press queries discreetly. “A family emergency” was how it was described for months. The details are so much more vivid and heartbreaking.

The bullet shattered Joel’s jaw and went through the C1 and C2 vertebrae of his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed below the neck. He’s since undergone several surgeries, including a tracheostomy, and uses a feeding tube.

Joel was in critical condition for a month and rehabbed in New Orleans for another two before returning to Scott’s home in Lafayette, where his mom, the Scotts and a nurse tend to him in what is essentially a rec room. The space was customarily used for family functions: birthday parties, church gatherings. It’s also where Scott still occasionally worked as a swing instructor. But the Ping-Pong table and Ryder Cup memorabilia have been pushed aside for medical equipment and Joel’s hospital bed. These will be Joel’s main living quarters until a handicap-accessible house can be built for him and his mom on the property next door.

Joel can speak — an outcome not guaranteed after the incident — and has started physical therapy. He’s improved to the point where he can go outside with help and a power-assisted wheelchair. Last December, he led his school in prayer at its Christmas program.

“There’s a specific Scripture that says we’re supposed to pray about everything, and God will give you peace that surpasses understanding,” Scott says. “We can’t understand as a family why this happened, and why it’s happened to our little buddy that we love so much. How are we gonna get peace? How are we going to find peace in this awful situation?

“Only from God,” he continues. “He can give you peace when it doesn’t make sense. And even Joel is starting to show signs of peace, and he’s the one that’s dealing with the most — and that’s helping all of us.”

Joel is in good spirits the day we meet him. He always is, Ted says. He’s watching the animated sci-fi comedy The Mitchells vs. the Machines on the massive screen used for Scott’s simulator. He loves Spider-Man and is accumulating an impressive collection of football memorabilia, including gear signed by Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen. He’s talking and smiling. Before the injury, he was a phenomenal athlete and competitor. “Full of life and full of fun,” the Scotts say. He played football, basketball and soccer. After one basketball game last summer, Ted called and asked him how it went.

“I had 18 points,” he said. “Everybody in the gym started chanting my name. It was just awkward.”

Joel needs around-the-clock care, although there’s hope he’ll someday be able to move his arms or at least get off a ventilator. They’re also looking into stem-cell therapy, a pricey process that could improve his neurological function. (Hannah has started a GoFundMe page.) Due to all the specialized equipment and long-term care essentials, the financial repercussions are significant.

“We’re not giving up,” Scott says. “Melanie is a fighter; she’s tough as nails. Both of us come from resilient people, competitive people. And so we’re gonna fight for our little buddy. He’s a fighter. He’s tough, man. He’s a tough little dude.”

Ted Scott is a man of unshakeable faith, compassion and kindness. You learn about yourself just being around him. Not necessarily about spirituality, but about decency. “Life is two things,” he tells me during our visit. “We all need help, and we all need to be helping.”

We say goodbye to Joel, forging ahead on Ted’s next inspiring adventure, aware that the strongest person we’ll meet today — a boy of just 11 — is in our rearview watching cartoons.

“Alright, buddy,” Ted says to Joel, looking back one last time before we leave. “I love you, man.”

This story was first published in the March/April 2026 issue of GOLF Magazine. You can reach the author at joshua.berhow@golf.com.

To support the people or organizations featured in this piece, click below:

GoFundMe for Joel Moscovis
Hope For Opelousas
The Harvest Center Church (Click “I want to donate”)

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The post Scottie Scheffler WDs from Houston Open ahead of birth of second child appeared first on Golf.

The post Scottie Scheffler WDs from Houston Open ahead of birth of second child appeared first on Golf.

The next time Scottie Scheffler tees it up will very likely be at Augusta National.

The World No. 1 withdrew from this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open on Tuesday, citing family reasons. Golf Channel’s Brentley Romine reported that Scheffler’s withdrawal is not injury-related and is instead due to the imminent birth of his and his wife Meredith’s second child.

Matt Kuchar replaces Scheffler in the field.

If Scheffler doesn’t commit to next week’s Valero Texas Open, then his next start would come at the Masters.

Scottie and Meredith Scheffler had their first child, Bennett, in May of 2024, just shortly after he won his second green jacket. At the 2024 Masters, Scheffler said he was prepared to withdraw and leave the tournament if Meredith went into labor early. He went on to win by four, and Bennett was born a few weeks later, right before the 2024 PGA Championship.

Scheffler, whose year began win-T3-T4 but hasn’t posted a top-10 finish in his last three starts, has finished runner-up at the Houston Open three times, including each of the past two seasons when he used the event at Memorial Park Golf Course as his final Masters tune-up.

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The four-time major champion opened the season with a win at the American Express and then went T3-T4 in Phoenix and Pebble Beach before having his streak of 18 consecutive top-10s snapped at the Genesis Invitational, where he finished in a tie for 12th. Since then, Scheffler finished in a tie for 24th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and tied for 22nd at the Players Championship.

Scheffler seemed out of sorts all week at TPC Sawgrass, where he ranked 44th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and 37th in Approach.

Despite a few un-Scheffler-like showings in a row, the World No. 1 was pleased with how he handled things at TPC Sawgrass as he continued to fine-tune his game with the Masters on the horizon.

“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 at the Players. “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 of rounds that were difficult. And then I shot a nice round today as well. 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.”

Last year in Houston, Scheffler finished one shot behind champion Min Woo Lee. He then went on to finish fourth at the Masters before winning both the PGA Championship and Open Championship.

Scheffler was the heavy favorite in Houston before withdrawing. Defending champion Lee is now the favorite.

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The post Post-Players Championship stock report: Cam Young trending, Scottie fuming? appeared first on Golf.

The post Post-Players Championship stock report: Cam Young trending, Scottie fuming? appeared first on Golf.

After six Players Championships and a whole bunch of other Sunday afternoons at golf’s biggest events, I’ve developed an entirely unscientific theory about TPC Sawgrass’ famed Island Green 17th.

If you’re in the hunt late on Sunday and you fire for the flagstick side of the tucked Sunday pin placement, good things happen.

Cameron Young’s performance throughout the famed closing stretch at the Players Championship on Sunday deserves plaudits — he made pars on 16 while plugged in a bunker from 50 yards out and on 18 after hitting the longest drive in that hole’s history — but it was his tee shot in the 17th that I thought revealed the most about him. With Young’s tournament hopes hanging on a birdie on the hole, he stepped to the most terrifying tee shot at Sawgrass and delivered a seed straight at the flagstick. He was rewarded with a 10-footer for birdie that he drained, sending the crowd into a tizzy and tilting the balance of the tournament in his direction.

The thrust of my theory around the 17th has less to do with strategy than it does with gumption, and it can be distilled into the following sentence: You can’t bother playing TPC Sawgrass smartly. If you want to win on Sunday, you need: 1. birdies 2. risk tolerance and 3. guts. The kind of golfers who thrive in that kind of environment are the ones who view the course and the tournament not as something to be feared but as something to be challenged. After seizing the biggest win of his life on Sunday, Young summarized it nicely.

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“The way everything is raised, you just know all eyes are right there on you,” Young said. “There’s nowhere to hide, and I feel like I stepped up really well and hit a bunch of good shots those last couple holes, so I’m very proud of that.”

After a week on the ground at Sawgrass, it seems only fitting to start today’s stock report with the character who stared fear in the face and won: Young.

Players Championship 2026 stock report

Cam Young: Stock UP

It always seemed likely that Cam Young would break through on a stage like the Players Championship. Young’s general competitive disposition received a major shot in the arm with a dominant performance at the Ryder Cup in September, and players tend to carry their form in the Cup in the years that follow. Scottie Scheffler turned an impressive Ryder Cup in 2021 into four years as the best golfer on the planet; Max Homa turned an impressive Ryder Cup in ’23 into a T2 at the Masters the following April; Justin Rose turned his performances in ’23 and ’25 into three extra years at the pinnacle of the sport in the twilight of his career; and now Cameron Young joins the club with a career-defining win at the Players arriving just months after a fan-endearing week at Bethpage.

Collin Morikawa: Stock DOWN

It’s hard to get knocked for WDing on your second hole of the golf tournament. But the nature of Morikawa’s WD and the fact he intimated it’d happened before stick out as red flags for me, even if the injury itself isn’t more serious than a pulled muscle. Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery.

Ludvig Aberg: Stock UP

This might sound counterintuitive considering the way Aberg bombed out of contention on Sunday after entering the day with a three-shot lead, but I actually thought Ludvig’s gameplan was commendable. He played aggressively. He attacked flags. He stayed on the offensive. In the end, his head wasn’t quite there, and his performance suffered. It happens. Nobody’s writing the final script on Aberg’s career after that performance on Sunday, and I’d even go as far as to argue that his plainspokenness about the issues he ran into could serve to help him overcome them in the near future.

For now, the stock stays up. But it’s probably better if this doesn’t become a theme.

Scottie Scheffler: HOLD

Nothing I saw last week made me believe that the World No. 1’s recent blip is anything more than a blip. In fact, if I were betting on the most likely outcome of the next six weeks of my life, it would include spotting Scheffler ducking his way into Butler Cabin on Sunday evening in a few weeks as the newest Masters winner.

BUT … Scheffler looks as frustrated with his own golf game as we’ve seen him in quite a while. It’s almost as if his own standards rose with all of ours. I thought it was interesting hearing Justin Thomas’ assessment of Scheffler’s driver and iron woes at Sawgrass.

“No, you can just tell [something is off],” Thomas said. “It’s just timing and trying to match it up.”

Of course, timing is a pretty big deal for a swing as fluid and athletic as Scheffler’s — but Thomas didn’t seem too worried about him figuring it out.

“He’s still hitting shots that not many people on planet earth can hit in the same rounds,” Thomas said. “It’s just golf. He’s been hitting it pretty much where he wants within like a blanket size for what seems like two or three years. He’s still had a pretty damned good year. I know I’d trade with him.”

If Thomas isn’t worried about it, then neither am I.

Matt Fitzpatrick: Stock UP

I’d buy all the Matt Fitzpatrick stock I can get my hands on right now — not just because of the way he snuck into contention at the Players and came within an inch of his life of winning the tournament, but also because of his candor in speaking with the press about the … unsavory fan attitudes as the tournament neared its conclusion.

I don’t think the fans decided the tournament. And I certainly don’t think they rattled Fitz. But I respect the hell out of a golfer who’s willing to shoot straight after coming up short in the heat of battle. It reflects something about his competitive makeup — perhaps an acknowledgment that tournaments are won and lost on very small margins and occasionally the result of randomness — that will serve him well the next time he winds up in this spot.

Justin Thomas: Stock UP

Speaking of Thomas, the Players was a reminder of how much fun golf is when he’s in contention. Thomas is one of the more candid voices on Tour, and his game is an old-school blend of shotmaking and gumption. After surgery cost him the better part of six months, he’s going to need some time to get his groove back. But once he stops getting “spacey” on the course? Well, the Tour will be glad to have him.

Jordan Spieth: STAY AWAY

As your Certified Golfing Analyst (CGA), it’s my fiduciary duty to shoot straight — and here is me shooting straight: I’m not sure I can advise you to buy any stock in Jordan Spieth right now … because I’m not sure I understand what’s going on with him myself. On Friday afternoon, Spieth looked like a vision of old, talking about “weird golf” and playing miraculous recovery shots from inside trees and generally displaying the kind of topsy-turvy golf that makes his game thrilling and totally addicting. After it was done, Spieth even admitted to the press that he’s “really, really close” to the kind of golf he’s spent the last decade trying to rediscover. For a second, I believed it! But then I saw him battling to stay under par on Sunday after a Saturday 76 that punted him out of the tournament, and I wondered if those visions were a mirage.

If you have conviction about which way this is headed, you’re probably wrong. Buy or sell at your own risk!

Xander Schauffele: BUY

Thank god PGA Tour events are 72 holes, because if the last we’d seen of Schauffele was his disastrous third round at TPC Sawgrass, we might be legitimately concerned for the rest of his season. Thankfully, Schauffele had Sunday to set the record straight — and that’s just what he did, shooting three under with birdies on each of the last three holes to claim the clubhouse lead and eventually a solo third finish.

One of the things I admire about Schauffele is his mental toughness. He never seems to get too high or too low, even when the wheels are falling off or a major championship is within his grasp. He needed all of those competitive juices on Sunday at Sawgrass, and it was enough to set the arrow pointing up heading to Augusta.

Brooks Koepka: Stock UP

The winner of the quietest top-15 at Sawgrass by a very wide margin? Brooks Koepka, who shot 6 under for the week and finished T13. Perhaps most impressive about Koepka’s performance was his effort on the 17th, where he landed the ball on the green on all four tournament days for the first time in his career.

I get that a T13 without really making any noise isn’t anything to get overly excited about … but if he’s in the hunt on Sunday in Augusta in a few weeks, something tells me we’ll be viewing this outcome differently.

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The post Scottie Scheffler won’t win this Players Championship. But it has illuminated something rare appeared first on Golf.

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.

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Scottie Scheffler has been . . . off lately.

That much has been clear to anyone watching the world No. 1 this week at TPC Sawgrass. On Thursday, he hit just half of his fairways while posting an even-par 72, continuing a puzzling trend of slow(ish) starts in 2026. Once again, the first page of the leaderboard is curiously missing Scheffler’s name.

“Just little stuff,” Scheffler said of his Thursday struggles. “Just got to be a little sharper.”

Among that stuff: flip-flopping between drivers as he tries to settle into a gamer for 2026.

Even a “not-himself” Scheffler is, of course, still very good. He already has a win and two other top-five finishes this season and ranks third on Tour in SG: Total. But when you’re regularly drawing comparisons to Tiger Woods, even the slightest dip in form gets magnified.

That’s why, on Thursday evening, the cast of Golf Channel’s Live From spent time analyzing Scheffler’s range session as dusk settled over Sawgrass.

“I don’t even recognize this golf swing from Scottie Scheffler,” Chamblee said. “It’s a foot and a half shorter than it was last year and the face is wide open.”

Fellow analyst Paul McGinley agreed.

“It’s quite clear how much shorter his swing is now,” McGinley said. “Generally, in my experience, when your swing gets shorter, it has to do with anxiety. You’re not free-flowing. You’re trying to poke it down there. You’re afraid to miss it.”

With much of TPC Sawgrass’ trouble off the tee lurking down the left side — historically Scheffler’s miss — it’s possible he’s subconsciously guarding against it.

When a swing shortens, there are usually a couple possible explanations. One is reduced turn. But as the broadcast pointed out Friday, Scheffler’s shoulder turn still appears as full as ever. The other possibility is reduced wrist hinge at the top of the swing. With the right miss now creeping in, that explanation seems more likely.

The encouraging news for Scheffler is that the issue appears fixable. For a player of his caliber, it’s probably only a matter of time before he finds his rhythm again.

“This is not a crisis,” McGinley said. “This is a bump in the road.”

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Scottie Scheffler hit. And hit. No matter that his round had finished a couple hours ago. No matter that a steady rain was soaking his white hat, black vest, white shirt and blue pants. Under the eye of longtime swing coach Randy Smith and caddie Ted Scott, Scheffler hit on the muddy range at TPC Sawgrass. And hit.

Because of mishits. 

It was that kind of day at the Players Championship, at least when looking at the standard for the world No. 1. Scheffler had shot an even-par 72, and he trailed early wave leader Maverick McNealy by just five. But it was the means in which Scheffler arrived at his number that was alarming. He went right off the tee. Often. He hit seven fairways. And he went right seven times. He went right on No. 10, his opening hole. And 12. And 14. And 15. And 16. And 5. And 7. “Yeah, just kept going right,” Scheffler said. 

But why? Scheffler said it had to do with a driver switch. Gone is TaylorMade’s new Qi4D driver, which he had used at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. Back is the Qi10 that he’s played for the past two seasons. 

“I’ve seen some improvements in the new driver; like my spin is much more consistent,” Scheffler said after his round. “It’s actually a touch faster than my driver. But the way I play, I always hit so many different types of shots and the one last week felt like it was going a little left on me, and when I want to hit my peeler, a lot of times I would hit it out of the middle of the face and it would start drawing on me, so I think that’s a little bit today why the ball started going way right.

“You look at a hole like 14, 7, 16, you can’t really miss left. I don’t think I had enough trust in what the driver head was doing compared to where I was last week. I think it can be tough sometimes to kind of block that stuff out.

“But I have seen some improvements in the new driver. It’s just I haven’t been able to trust it in all the different shots that I hit, especially off the tee.”

Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee posited that Scheffler’s recent struggles extend beyond his driver indecision to his swing.

“I don’t even recognize this golf swing from Scottie Scheffler; it’s a foot-and-a-half shorter than it was last year and the face is wide open,” Chamblee said to his “Live From” partner Paul McGinley on Thursday evening. “That’s the source of the problem.”

To which McGinley said, “Yeah, it’s quite clear how much shorter his swing is now. Generally, in my experience, when you’re swing gets shorter, it’s known to do with anxiety. You’re not free flowing. You’re trying to poke it down there. You’re afraid to miss it.”

There were positives on Thursday. Scheffler gained strokes to the field in approach and putting. He birdied the par-5 9th, his final hole of the day, in one of the tidiest ways you’ll see: tee ball down the left side of the fairway, layup to 70 yards, wedge to 2 feet. “It’s nice finishing that way versus the other way,” he said. 

There’s also confidence in the old driver. In 2024, Scheffler won nine tournaments, including the Masters and the Olympics event. Last year, he won six events, including two majors. 

Still, he needed to hit. 

And hit. 

“I mean, it’s easier hitting it from the fairway than it is from the rough,” Scheffler said. “I played from the rough a lot today. Like I said, I hit some good iron shots, which was really nice. Had that nice wedge in on 9, really sharp iron shot into 6, and I did a pretty good job of managing my way around the course.

“I gave up some shots late that I shouldn’t have. I felt like I got a bad lie in the rough on 8, missed on the correct side. But 7, I made a mental error. Two was messy after getting it in the fairway.

“So just little stuff. Just got to be a little sharper.”

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The post Scottie Scheffler ‘beaten up’ by bruising Arnold Palmer Invitational appeared first on Golf.

Maybe more than any week on the PGA Tour schedule, Bay Hill delights in kicking your teeth in.

And on a noticeably punchy Saturday afternoon at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Scottie Scheffler wasted no time getting started.

The World No. 1 began a vexing third round at Bay Hill in particularly unusual fashion, recording three bogeys in his first five holes — and four in his first seven — to drop from the outskirts of the leaderboard to well out of contention. As he has for much of the week in Florida, the typically cool and collected Scheffler looked out of character with a club in his hands and out of patience without it, en route to a decidedly up-and-down 72. As if to emphasize the point, when his fourth bogey of the day dropped on the seventh hole, NBC cameras captured Scheffler crow-hopping his ball into the woods in disgust — his second frustrated ball-toss of the week.

By the time he made the turn, Scheffler had recorded his most bogeys on an opening nine in more than eleven months, since the second round of the Masters last April, and just one fewer black score than he recorded all week at the American Express in January. (Of course, another read of these stats emphasizes Scheffler’s brilliance in the 2020s, seeing as until the Genesis Invitational at the end of February, the World No. 1 had gone 11 months without a finish outside of the top 10.)

After it was over, Scheffler was blunt.

“Pretty up and down, I would say,” he said.

No kidding. But the ups were revealing, too. On a Saturday when Bay Hill pulled few punches, the 29-year-old responded with a few of his own. Just when it seemed he might fade from the competition entirely, Scheffler recorded four straight birdies between holes 11 and 14, and then added a fifth on the par-5 16th. He entered the 18th hole needing a birdie to get to six under for the tournament, seven shots out of the lead set by Daniel Berger and within striking distance for another Sunday charge.

Instead, he wiped his approach short and right, watching helplessly as it bounced on a lakebed and plunged into the water. Scheffler folded over in exasperation as the ball disappeared into the water. He tidied up from there, but the damage was done: A double on the last had ended the momentum he’d battled so hard to win back. He finished the day at even par for the round, and 3 under for the tournament, 10 shots off the lead set by Daniel Berger.

“Out here the margins are just so small,” Scheffler said. “I felt like the breaks, when they go against you, you make bogeys, and when they go with you, sometimes you make birdies.”

On Saturday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the story for Scheffler was in the margins. And at a golf tournament known for its snarl, the World No. 1 admitted that he left wounded.

“I think we get beaten up,” he said with a chuckle. “But golf’s a game that kind of beats you up anyways.”

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The post Looking at the stats behind Scottie Scheffler’s TaylorMade Qi4D debut | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

The post Looking at the stats behind Scottie Scheffler’s TaylorMade Qi4D debut | Tour Report appeared first on Golf.

Welcome to Fully Equipped’s weekly Tour equipment report. Every Friday of PGA Tour weeks (plus other times, if news warrants), GOLF equipment editor Jack Hirsh runs you through some of the biggest news surrounding golf clubs on Tour, including changes, tweaks and launches.

For the first time in two years, Scottie Scheffler is playing a PGA Tour event without his venerable TaylorMade Qi10 driver.

After months of testing and an initial run last December at the Hero World Challenge, Scheffler has finally put TaylorMade’s latest Qi4D driver in the bag at the Arnold Palmer Invitational this week.

On Thursday at Bay Hill, Scheffler snapped his not-breaking-par-in-an-opening-round streak at three with a 2-under 70. Off the tee, his stats were somewhat middling at first glance as he gained .522 shots on the field (T22), hit 8 of 14 fairways and averaged 303.4 yards on all tee shots.

Those are quite pedestrian for the guy who has been top-two on the PGA Tour in SG: OTT the last four seasons (including 2026) and led the category in 2023.

But looking closer at Scheffler’s radar stats from the 11 times he actually used his new Qi4D driver on Thursday reveals one of his more efficient outings in recent memory.

In terms of accuracy, he hit 6 of 11 fairways with the driver, but four of those five misses were just barely off doglegs in the fairway after the ball landed in the short stuff. Not all misses are necessarily equal.

On No. 6, he obliterated his ball 351 yards just through the fairway on the famous 90-degree dogleg par-5 and left himself just 209 yards to the green. That shot still gained him .02 shots OTT despite finishing in the rough. The other three lost him .28 shots to the field.

When we look at his radar statistics, that’s where things really start to show the improvement.

His clubhead speed was 119.67 mph, actually a touch slower than his season average of 120.5, 34th on the PGA Tour. Despite that, his ball speed was up 180.895 mph, more than 2.6 mph faster than his season average.

Scheffler’s ball speed is faster this season, 178.32, than last year and 2024 at the same point in the year, but a 2.6 mph jump is huge. While there could be many factors at play here, including temperature and other conditions, the fact that this jump came in the first round of using a new driver can’t be overlooked.

His carry efficiency in Round 1 (his carry distance divided by his club head speed) was 2.53, which would be fifth on Tour so far this season. Scheffler was T126 in the stat heading into this week, and he was T110 and T135 the last two years.

TaylorMade Qi4D Custom Driver

SHAPED FOR SPEED The re-engineered head profile increases ball speed thanks to improved aerodynamics developed through advanced simulations. FACE FOR DISTANCE 60x Carbon Twist Face™ is a technological cornerstone that provides weight savings, incredible ball speed and more consistency vs. a titanium face. ADJUSTABLE PERFORMANCE 4° loft sleeve can be used to adjust loft, lie and face angle for optimized flight. TOUR PROVEN TECHNOLOGIES New and improved cut-through Speed Pocket™ protects ball speed and reduces spin on low-face strikes. Advanced CAD modeling creates a design with a clean and powerful sound, a foundation of TaylorMade driver performance. Multi-Material Construction allows engineers to strategically place mass in areas of the head where it maximizes performance, speed, and stability.

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, TaylorMade

His total distance efficiency (total distance divided by club head speed) was 2.62, which would be 63rd on Tour and up from his season average of 2.572.

What does this all mean? 

We’ve known this year’s drivers were fast, but now we can see evidence of it. 

The fact that Scheffler wasn’t swinging as fast in Round 1, likely a little gun-shy in his first round using the new big stick, yet still increasing his average ball speed by 2.6 mph, is a massive gain. If Scottie Scheffler is picking up 2.6 mph of ball speed, that can’t be good for the rest of the field.

It will be interesting to track as he logs more rounds with the new driver and gets more comfortable with it. With that comfort will probably come more fairways as well. 

But there’s a reason Scheffler seemed pleased with his results off the tee with the new driver on Thursday. He specifically called out the spin retention of the new driver on Thursday, which owes to the new, tighter roll radius of the Qi4D face.

“I feel like what we have seen is more consistent spin numbers,” he said. “So that will help it be a little bit more accurate off the tee. Directionally, I struggled a little bit with it at the start of the year, but I got to what I thought was a really good spot last week, and I liked what I saw today.”

Scottie Scheffler’s Qi4D driver specs

Qi4D 9.0° driver
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Black 7-X
Front weights: 8g heel, 13g toe
Back weights: 8g heel, 8g toe
FCT Sleeve: 1 Toward Higher

Drivers are still unsettled

Scheffler wasn’t the only big name to make a driver switch this week.

Cameron Young switched out of his Titleist GT2 driver for an 11.0-degree GT3 with the same Mitsubishi Tensei 1K Pro Orange 70 TX shaft he had in his GT2. The higher loft of the lower-spinning GT3 head helped him further optimize his numbers as switching to the Pro V1x Double Dot Prototype last summer.

The prototype Double Dot flies lower than his previous Pro V1x, so Young worked with the Titleist team to see what he needed to do to optimize carry with his driver, Titleist Director of Player Promotion J.J. Van Wezenbeeck said.

Working together with Titleist’s Director of Tour Research & Validation, Fordie Pitts, the team determined Young needed a touch more launch. The 11-degree GT3 (lofted down .75˚ in the D1 setting) succeeded in getting launch up from 9 degrees to 11 while only going from 2400 to 2500 rpm spin.

Titleist GT3 Custom Driver

GT3 – Speed-Tuned Distance & Control GT3 offers Titleist’s boldest combination of power and personalization. With a speed-tuned design that allows you to precisely match performance to your most frequent contact location, you can make your biggest drives even bigger while taking total control over flight and shaping. For players with a relatively consistent impact location, GT3 offers a precisely adjustable CG Track to max out distance and directional control. Seamless Thermoform Crown A reimagined ultra-lightweight design, born from a new Proprietary Matrix Polymer. The tunable acoustic properties of this unique composite allow Titleist engineers to realize new material gains while maintaining our signature sound and feel. All wrapped in a clean look that inspires total confidence. Split Mass Construction A breakthrough in internal weighting unlocks longer drives and enhanced directional control in GT3. The Adjustable CG Track now sits closer to the face for more dynamic CG control, while additional discretionary mass is pushed to the back of the club to maintain optimal stability through impact. Advanced Aerodynamics GT3 features a new raised tail contour that represents a dramatic shift in driver aerodynamics. Previously impossible to execute due to design constraints, this advanced shaping results in a driver that swings faster while still providing optimal CG control.

$649.00 $449.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Titleist

The reason for going to a higher lofted, but more forward CG head was so they could increase the launch without increasing spin. Young led the field and gained 2.277 strokes off the tee in Round 1.

Lucas Glover also added a new Qi4D driver, which is at least his third driver change of the year. That’s similar to Wyndham Clark, who is also most recently in a Qi4D and has played four different drivers this year. And Harry Hall, who earlier this season played a Qi4D LS before switching to Titleist driver, is now playing the core model this week.

Meanwhile, Denny McCarthy added a G440K.

Normally, some of these trivial week-to-week changes would go down in Odds and Ends, but it seems like more players, especially gear free agents, are swapping drivers this season. That’s likely a testament to how good the offerings are; players have taken notice.

“What I’m seeing… heads are a close battle this year,” Fujikura Tour Rep Marshall Thompson told GOLF this week. “It’s very competitive in terms of club speed, dispersion, center-face contact, start direction. There’s not one clear-cut winner from what I’ve seen.

“Even on the Tour side of it, these non-contract guys that I continue to work with on a weekly basis, they still have four or five headcovers in the bag and they’re still trying different options, and we’re already to the Florida Swing.”

Check this out

This section is dedicated to cool photos we’ve snapped recently on Tour, but haven’t had a reason to share yet. For this week, check out Sahith Theegala’s new G440K driver. Sahith played his way into the field at Bay Hill after a down 2025 by ranking 24th in the FedEx Cup race so far this year.

Odds and Ends

Some other gear changes and notes we’re tracking this week.

Ryan Gerard is playing putter whack-a-mole. Used three different putters at last week’s Cognizant and then two different putters so far at the API … Harry Hall added 13 new TaylorMade clubs to his bag this week, including becoming the newest member of the Spider-mafia … That gave TaylorMade 18 Spider putters in play at the 80-man field at Bay Hill … Chris Gotterup swapped his Qi35 5-wood for a Qi4D 7-wood … Ludvig Aberg switched back to his previous Odyssey Ai-One No. 1, which has more loft on it … Jhonny Vegas added a GT2 to optimize his ball flight with the Pro V1x Double Dot as well … Sahith Theegala is using a Ping G440 Max 9-wood this week … Chris Kirk switched back from Quantum TD Max to the standard TD … Daniel Berger added a Vokey SM11 60.04T lob wedge to the bag.

3 things you should read/watch

A selection of GOLF content from the past week that may interest you.

Si Woo Kim’s golf bag is one-of-a-kind. Just like him | Bag Spy – Dive deep into the bag of one of the best hangs on the PGA Tour, who carries a blade 3-iron, just three wedges and has to be barred from working on his own clubs.

Callaway Quantum Triple Diamond Custom Driver

$699.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA Tour Superstore, Callaway

PING went ALL OUT with their NEW truck – Go behind the scenes of Ping’s brand new Tour Truck.

The key gear switch that led to Nico Echavarria’s Cognizant victory – Nico Echavarria had played Srixon’s Z-Star XV ball since joining their Tour staff last year, but right before his victory at PGA National, he made a switch.

Srixon Z-STAR DIAMOND Golf Balls

Z-STAR SeriesWhether you’re chasing major championships or your next personal best, the all-new Z-STAR series is the choice for serious players everywhere. Featuring reformulated cores and covers across the line, this generation of Z-STAR golf balls delivers greater distance, optimized spin, and tour-level stopping power around the green. It’s a formula designed to give you one thing: pure performance when it matters most. With a blend of greenside control and long-game distance, the new Z-STAR ♦ DIAMOND also delivers the unique benefit of increased spin on long and mid Iron shots.

$49.99 from Fairway Jockey

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ALSO AVAILABLE AT: PGA TOUR Superstore, Srixon

The author welcomes your comments at Jack.Hirsh@golf.com.

Want to overhaul your bag in 2026? Find a club-fitting location near you at True Spec Golf.

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The post Where to sit at Masters Champions Dinner? Scottie Scheffler talks ‘protocol’ appeared first on Golf.

The post Where to sit at Masters Champions Dinner? Scottie Scheffler talks ‘protocol’ appeared first on Golf.

If you get anxious about where to sit at Thanksgiving, imagine how you might feel as a still new-ish Masters winner approaching the table at the fabled Champions Dinner and deciding where to pull up a chair. There are no place cards or seating charts — just assorted legends and multiple-time major winners peering up from their vodka-sodas and dinner rolls and saying with their eyes, “Really, kid, you’re going to sit here?”

“It’s not assigned seating, but a lot people sit in the same chairs,” Adam Scott, the 2013 champion, said in 2023. “I like that, to be perfectly honest. I like the fact that you kind of feel like that’s your spot.”

Well, yeah, once you’ve established that spot.

The first year is easy, because as the defending champion and host, you’re seated by default at the head of the table, flanked by the dinner’s resident host, two-time champion Ben Crenshaw, and Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley. Year 2 gets trickier. Scott navigated his sophomore dinner appearance by fast-walking to an open spot next to his junior-golf pal Trevor Immelman, a pocket of the table where Nick Faldo also is a regular.

Other players have formed their own table cliques: Zach Johnson shoulders up with Jordan Spieth, with the likes of Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson and Patrick Reed and old-timers Larry Mize and Bernhard Langer also in the region. Three legends — Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Tom Watson — gravitate toward seats just to the left of the head. The late Fuzzy Zoeller used to favor the far end of the table, which is a little like sitting at the back of the school bus. And so it goes. Call them comfort zones.

It may feel like Scottie Scheffler has been winning green jackets (and a lot of other things) for decades, but he, in fact, didn’t attend his first Champions Dinner until 2023. “It’s your first time in that room, you don’t really know what to expect,” Scheffler said Wednesday from Bay Hill. “The only thing I really knew is where I was going to sit. That’s basically the only thing I knew, sitting next to Mr. Crenshaw and the chairman.”

Scheffler said he arrived early and “snuck” his wife, Meredith, into the room to give her a peek at a dinner that she had helped arrange (among the menu items: cheeseburger sliders and tortilla soup).

A year later, at the dinner hosted by 2023 winner Jon Rahm, Scheffler was less certain about his movements. “There’s a little protocol,” he said of where players tend to sit, or, for that matter, not sit. “I’m definitely not going to go sit in the area where Tiger and Jack sit. Like, there’s kind of spots where you kind of feel you’ll naturally flow into.”

Cozying up to his Texas buddy Spieth would have been a logical move for Scheffler, but Scheffler knew better than to try that, saying with a laugh, “I definitely didn’t ask Jordan to sit by him, because he would have done something to make sure that I didn’t have a place to sit.” Instead, Scheffler turned to Zach Johnson and said, “Hey, where are you sitting this year? And he told me, and he was nice and let me join him.”

Scheffler faced no such awkwardness last year, because he was back at the head of the table again as the defending champion. This year Rory McIlroy will assume that spot, but Scheffler, you’d have to figure, won’t have to grovel much to sit just about anywhere he please. Two green jackets, we’d hope, have earned him some options.  

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The post Why Scottie Scheffler isn’t concerned about his slow starts appeared first on Golf.

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Scottie Scheffler has a little reminder for those who might be worried about his slow starts.

But before we get to that, here’s a refresher: Scheffler, the top golfer on the planet, has a victory and finished in the top 12 in all four of his starts this season. That’s pretty good for anyone, but what’s peculiar for him is that, save for his victory at the American Express in his first start of the year, he’s opened the last three tournaments with 74, 72 and 73 in the first rounds.

Very un-Scottie Scheffler-like. And those rough opening rounds have been just enough to keep him out of the winner’s circle. He’s tied for 117th in first-round scoring average this season (70.50), trailing Chris Gotterup by about five full shots (65.80).

This week, Scheffler is back at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Fla., for the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a tournament he’s won twice and never finished worse than 15th. On Wednesday, he was asked about those slow starts and if there’s anything he might do differently pre-round to fix them. This is where he offered a reality check.

“Last year on Tour I led the Tour in first-round, second-round, third-round and fourth-round scoring,” he said. “So I’m not too concerned over a very small sample size.”

He’s right! How quickly we forget.

In fact, Scheffler’s opening rounds have been where he’s at his best. His scoring average in the first round last year (67.45) was better than his Tour-leading averages in the second (68.0), third (68.40) and fourth (68.10) rounds.

Go back another season and he led the Tour in scoring average in the first (67.84) and second (67.53) rounds in 2024. And then turn back the clock one more year, to 2023, and his 67.91 first-round scoring average also led the Tour.

So to recap: should we really worry about the guy who has played better opening rounds than anyone else in each of the past three years? Probably not.

“When you look at the body of work for me this year, I played four tournaments, so that’s 16 rounds,” Scheffler said. “And I’ve always been a guy that’s been really good at staying in the present, doing what I need to do in order to go out and play well. And so at 16 rounds I’ve had 13 that have been really solid and three that haven’t been as good. So I’m still batting at a pretty nice percentage. And so if I wanted to dig deep into it I could completely change how I approach tournaments, but I don’t think that would be very wise.”

Scheffler begins his opening round at 10:20 a.m. ET on Thursday alongside Russell Henley, meaning we are less than 24 hours away from finding out if Scheffler is about to ditch the trend he’s really not worried about in the first place.

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