It wasn’t to be for Scottie Scheffler at the US Open but the world number one was still left with plenty to be positive about after his week at Oakmont.
Scheffler ended up at four over par and once again sealed a top ten finish despite that score.
The world number one was left to rue some missed putts in the third round really and in the end, he just ran out of time to get closer to the leaders.
However, with The Open to come at Royal Portrush and so much more to still play for in the year, Scheffler was still keen to take some positives away.
And speaking to the press afterwards, Scheffler revealed exactly what his key takeaways were.
Scottie Scheffler gives verdict on his US Open performance at Oakmont
Scottie Scheffler was in a good mood despite not winning as he dealt with the media after his round.
As ever, the world number one was insightful in his assessments and when it came to his week at Oakmont, he admitted that a few bad breaks cost him.
“My main takeaway is I battled as hard as I did this week. I was really proud mentally of how I was over the course of four days. I did a lot of things out there that could really kind of break a week, and I never really got that one good break that kind of propels you. I’d hit it this far off, and seemingly every time I did, I was punished pretty severely for it,” Scheffler said.
“Even today, I make that double early, and then I come back, I birdie 4. I hit what I feel like is a good tee shot on 5, and it’s just off the first cut and I don’t have a stance again. Just little things like that add up over the course of a week. That’s the second time this week it’s happened where I thought the ball is in the fairway, I get up there, and I actually don’t have a stance, I’m chipping out sideways.
“I hit…I could go on and on. Hitting a pin with an iron shot where the ball should be a foot from the hole and all of a sudden I’ve got 20 feet. Just little stuff like that, where the weeks that you win, you need to have good luck sometimes in order to win tournaments. This week the way I was battling, I wasn’t able to give myself enough chances.
“Yeah, I think that’s really what it came down to. If I had four days like I did today, I think it would have been a different story. I was playing kind of behind the eight ball most of the week hitting the ball in the rough. Overall, proud of how I battled, gave myself a chance, but ultimately didn’t have enough.”
Scottie Scheffler says whether he thought he had a chance of winning at three over par
Going down the 18th, Scheffler was very much in the mix and a birdie would have put all sorts of pressure on and given him a clubhouse lead at two over.
However, it wasn’t to be as he made a bogey to finish at four over.
Still, Scheffler revealed that ahead of teeing off on 18, he very much felt he was in with a chance of success.
“Yeah, I’m going to try to make birdie, hit it in close in there, see if I can hole one. I’m not limiting myself to anything. My first job was to get the ball in the fairway, which I didn’t do. Then I thought to myself, maybe this is the one, maybe this is the time I get the lie, and I got up there, and it was probably the worst lie I had all week. Dang, it was a tough pill to swallow,” Scheffler added.
“Overall, that’s why you hit the ball in the fairway so you don’t have to deal with that stuff. Typically, I’m good at it. This week I wasn’t as good as normal, and I paid the price for it.”
With Scheffler nowhere near his best this week, it just shows how good he is.
If he can play even 50% better when we get to Portrush, then he could well be ending the season with another major win.
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