It is fair to say that the PGA Tour has not yet seen the best of Scottie Scheffler in 2025, with the world number one yet to win since the turn of the year.
Scottie Scheffler appears to have little more than an outside chance of winning the Players Championship for a third time this year. The 28-year-old is now seven shots off the lead with one round to go after posting a level par 72 on Saturday.
Scheffler is no stranger to miraculous comebacks at TPC Sawgrass. With three holes to play of his third round in 2024, the two-time Masters champion was eight shots back of where the lead would be at the end of the day. However, he would end the week by winning by one to become the first player to ever retain the title.
But he appears to have a little too much to do this time around – particularly as Scheffler is still searching for something like the level which allowed him to completely dominate last year.
Michael Kim defends Scottie Scheffler amid criticism at the Players Championship
Scheffler is also struggling to keep his cool. He would toss his club at his bag after missing the green at one stage while also conveying how baffled he was by the wind – which caused plenty of issues for the players on day three.
That led journalist Kyle Porter to label some of his antics ‘tiresome‘, noting that, as much of a fan of Scheffler as he is, it can be difficult to watch him act as if he is the only person facing bad breaks.
But that prompted Michael Kim to respond to Porter and launch a defence of Scheffler…
Scheffler no stranger to losing his cool
It is almost more jarring when it is Scheffler losing his rag. He has had virtually everything go his way over the last few years, and when he is stood over a shot, you are still expecting it to land on a dime.
But he definitely has a fiery side to him. Fans were stunned by Scheffler getting angry at last year’s BMW Championship as the American desperately struggled to adapt to the change in altitude at Castle Pines.
And once again, it surprised viewers when Scheffler smashed a club into his bag at the WM Phoenix Open this year as his slim hopes of victory were dashed by a 41 on the back nine on Sunday.
It is easy to forget however, just how young Scheffler still is. Phil Mickelson, for example, was nearly 34 by the time he won his first major. So there may be a little immaturity there when he is trying to work out how exactly he gets back to being at the level which allowed him to win nine times in 2024.
It says a lot about how good Scheffler has been that what looks to be a really decent start to the year arguably goes down as a real disappointment by his standards.
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