Scottie Scheffler pinpoints the one part of his game which wasn’t good enough at the Hero World Challenge

Add as preferred source on Google

Scottie Scheffler finished two strokes behind the leaders at the Hero World Challenge on Sunday.

Scheffler started the day only one shot behind 54-hole leader Sepp Straka and played with him in the final group.

However, the world number one was overtaken by both Hideki Matsuyama and Alex Noren, who competed for the title in a playoff hole.

It is not often that Scheffler gets beaten when he is in contention on the last day of a tournament, meaning he will be very disappointed.

He has now explained which area of his game prevented him from winning Tiger Woods’ event in the Bahamas.

• READ MORE: Tiger Woods praised for being a ‘class act’ for what he did at the Hero World Challenge despite not playing

Scottie Scheffler reflects on Hero World Challenge performance

Scheffler had not played in a competitive event since the Ryder Cup in September, so he can be excused for being a little rusty.

And most golfers, amateur or professional, will know that the short game is often the area that needs the most practice.

How many shots would Scottie Scheffler beat Tiger Woods by in an 18-hole stroke play match?

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

This proved to be the case for Scheffler in the Bahamas because his shots around the greens let him down too many times.

“Yeah, a good amount of confidence,” he reflected on the week with NBC Sports. “I felt like I did some good things. I saw some progress on some of the stuff I was working on in the offseason.

“I definitely needed to be a little sharper around the greens this week. I felt like that cost me a little bit. That’s probably a bit of rust. I’ll go home and have five or six weeks to get ready for next season.”

Scottie Scheffler’s statistics back up short game criticism

Scheffler’s strokes gained statistics prove that he was right to suggest that his short game was an issue at the Hero World Challenge.

He lost 0.60 shots per round on average, the only one out of five categories in which he was negative.

In contrast, Scheffler must be pleased with his putting and driving, which were both among the best in the field.

However, rather surprisingly, his approach play was almost exactly average, even though that is usually his greatest strength.

Scheffler will surely work hard on his irons in the coming weeks to ensure that he is back to his best for the 2026 PGA Tour season.