Scottie Scheffler is the best golfer in the world, and rapidly heading towards all-time greatness. But even the best of the best have their days. Thursday was one of them for the world No. 1.
Scheffler’s 2026 season, while hardly disastrous, has yet to reach the heights of his previous two years. In 2024, it seemed like he won every time he started, bringing home The Players, The Masters, the Memorial Tournament, the Tour Championship, and of course, Olympic gold.
He followed that up in 2025 by winning two majors, the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow and The Open Championship at Royal Portrush.
While he won his first start in 2026, The American Express in Palm Springs, his results since have been a frustrating mix of top-5s and near misses. He was T3 at the WM Phoenix Open. T4 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Finished a solo second at The Masters by shooting 65-68 on the weekend. Lost in a playoff at the RBC Heritage, then finished second at the Cadillac Championship. While he was squarely in the mix at the PGA Championship, his 71-71 on Friday and Saturday meant he fell short of defending his 2025 win. He then followed that up with a third place at The CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
But this week is the Memorial at Muirfield Village, a course renowned for its difficulty, which typically allows the best players, like Scheffler, to separate from the field. Unsurprisingly, he’s won two years in a row and finished third in 2023 and 2021.
Thursday’s opening round started strong, with Scheffler finishing the front nine at -2. But the back nine was a struggle, and on the par 3 16th hole it boiled over.
He bogeyed 10 and bogeyed 14 to sink back to even par, then stared down a difficult pin on 16. But in a rare sight for Scheffler, he came up well short, with his tee shot bouncing into the water. He’d eventually make double bogey, but most surprising was his immediate reaction and frustration with caddie Ted Scott.
Scheffler was clearly agitated, then was heard yelling after Scott, “I don’t know what to do. I can’t hear a word you’re saying. I feel like that was a good shot, now I’m in the water.”
He was also overheard saying “I absolutely flush a seven iron, and we get the wind wrong, and I’m in the water.”
“I don’t think you understand how frustrating that is,” he added.
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“I don’t understand. I really don’t. I mean, it was 5 yards short of the green. Flush 7-iron…I’ve hit good shots and dropping from hazards because we got the wind wrong,” he said. Even after hitting his shot from the drop zone, Scheffler kept going, though with less audible audio.
After the round, he explained his frustration to reporters.
“That’s just another really good iron shot, and the wind switched from down off the right to pretty significantly in off the right,” Scheffler said.
“If it’s down off the right, that ball’s probably where I hit my wedge shot to. So just don’t really know what I’m supposed to do there outside of trying to hit a good shot, and then it’s frustrating when it doesn’t work out, especially when it doesn’t work out in that direction.
“I would rather get gusted in off the left, not in off the right there. All you can do is just try to hit good shots. It can be very frustrating sometimes when you feel like you’re hitting good shots and then you’re going to the drop zone.”
Scheffler did wind up with birdie on the par 4 17th hole, carding a +1 on the day, putting him six shots back of the leaders. Guess it’s encouraging to know that even the best in the world gets this frustrated with golf.
