Scottie Scheffler arrives at Pinehurst No. 2 as an enormous 3-to-1 favourite, astonishingly low odds not seen because the mid-2000s, when Tiger Woods dominated the game.
Consequently, Scheffler has grow to be the speak of the city, as followers, pundits, and his fellow gamers alike can not cease buzzing about what the reigning Masters champion has completed this season. He has 5 wins already, probably the most earlier than the U.S. Open since 1980. He additionally has completed no worse than a tie for seventeenth, which got here on the American Categorical in January.
His superior statistics are off-the-charts spectacular, too.
“Whenever you begin getting in comparison with Tiger and issues that Tiger has carried out, that’s when you understand you might be at a stage that’s fairly particular,” stated LIV Golf’s Jon Rahm, who, like many others, fielded a query about Scheffler throughout his pre-tournament press convention Tuesday.
“To win 5 instances in a season… And profitable the tournaments, he’s profitable. To win Bay Hill, The Gamers, Masters, RBC [Heritage], after which the Memorial, you’re mainly replicating a Tiger Woods season. It’s improbable to see. He’s been enjoying improbable golf and doing what he must do.”
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Everyone seems to be speaking about Scheffler as a result of no participant has had a season like this since Woods was in his prime.
“The truth that the one factor that took him from profitable a golf match was going right into a jail cell for an hour,” joked Rory McIlroy, referencing Scheffler’s PGA Championship arrest.
“Looks as if he’s all the time in rivalry. Essentially the most thrilling factor about final week on the Memorial was when he made the triple on 9 [on Saturday]. Everybody was like, ‘Oh, seems to be like he would possibly let individuals in right here,’ however he finds a solution to regular the ship and make a number of birdies when he must. Undoubtedly the most effective participant on this planet on the minute by a great distance. It’s as much as us to attempt to get to his stage.”
Scheffler’s skill to bounce again after a mistake is without doubt one of the most spectacular sides of his sport. Each time he misses a brief putt or hits an errant tee shot, he all the time appears to bounce again, simply as he did at Muirfield Village final week to ultimately beat Collin Morikawa by one.
“You may’t win that many tournaments or be up there on the leaderboard with out doing every part nicely,” added Viktor Hovland.
“As a result of if he had holes in his sport, he wouldn’t carry out in addition to he would.”
Earlier than the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, quite a few pundits knocked Scheffler for his struggles on the greens. He appeared shaky with the putter and didn’t convert loads of alternatives earlier within the yr.
However then he switched to a mallet putter at Bay Hill and has been tearing aside the PGA Tour since.
“He tried the Spider [putter] final summer time for a few tournaments,” added McIlroy.
“However I feel the work that he’s put in with [his putting coach] Phil Kenyon as nicely, I feel that’s an enormous a part of it. I do know they began to work after the FedExCup Playoffs final yr. Clearly, the work they’ve carried out has actually been paying off.”
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CBS Sports activities invited McIlroy to hitch the published on the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February. In doing so, McIlroy famous that Scheffler ought to change from a blade to a mallet putter, which helped his personal sport, too.
However that swap elevated Scheffler to a brand new stratosphere, as he now seems to be unstoppable.
“From my perspective, he’s obtained full management of his golf swing. He’s discovered a variety of his placing. From what I can inform, he performs some extremely strategic golf. He doesn’t go too loopy. He simply hits the appropriate pictures on the proper time. He’s actually accountable for the setting, not solely his setting however the circumstances on the golf course,” defined LIV Golf’s Bryson DeChambeau.
“He is aware of what the golf ball goes to do. He is aware of the way to react accordingly. When issues go proper, he can proper the ship fairly rapidly. That’s only a recipe for fulfillment, and he’s been in a position to do it longer than anybody has for a very long time. He’s the gold normal proper now, and we’re all wanting as much as him going, ‘All proper, how can we get to that stage?’”
Little doubt that Scheffler is presently in a league of his personal.
The percentages replicate that, and his fellow gamers agree with that evaluation, too.
However are we now at a degree the place, like Woods in his heyday, we ask the query, ‘Is it Scheffler versus the sphere?’
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By way of. Be sure you take a look at @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You may observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.
