PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Scottie Scheffler has two more rounds at a tournament he’s dominated two out of the last three years. That’s the good news.
Pretty much everything else for the world No. 1 on Friday at The Players Championship was bad news. His driving, which was already under scrutiny, got worse. Through 36 holes, he’s 66th in strokes gained: off the tee. He hasn’t ranked worse than second in that statistic the last four years on Tour.
While his normally sublime iron play was vaguely familiar — he’s 17th in strokes gained: approach — he struggled again on Day 2 on the greens. Scheffler made birdie on his final hole to shoot 73 and finish at 1 over, just inside the cut line — his 70th consecutive made cut on Tour.
“I’ve played this tournament on the cut line the last couple holes, and it’s not fun,” said Justin Thomas, who was grouped with Scheffler for the first two rounds. “It’s unlike any other place we play because it’s over or not in one swing. If you’re on the cut line and you’re standing on 17, if you hit it in the water, you’re all but done. Then the same kind of goes for 18 on the tee shot. It’s every bit as hard as trying to win a golf tournament.”
He added about Scheffler, “No, you can just tell. It’s just timing and trying to match [the swing] up. He’s still hitting shots that not many people on planet earth can hit in the same rounds. 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, but I’m probably not the person to ask.”
Scheffler’s cut drama began with another missed drive into the right rough at the 14th hole, followed by a hack-and-hope wedge that landed 100 feet short of the hole — bogey.
At the par-5 16th, another drive dug into the right rough, but what should have been a decent look at birdie turned into his first three-putt of the week when he missed a 2 ½-footer for par.
A perfect drive that hugged the lake at the final hole, however, set up an approach to 9 feet for birdie to secure two more rounds at TPC Sawgrass. It also gives him a chance to find something in his game that has been missing since he won his season opener at The American Express.