Scottie Scheffler has revealed a change he made on Friday at the Olympics as he paid tribute to the role Ted Scott played in his gold medal win at Le Golf National.
No-one should have been at all surprised by Scottie Scheffler coming out on top in Paris, even with the world number one starting the final day four shots back of the leaders.
Scheffler became the second player this week to shoot 62, tying the course record at Le Golf National, and that was enough to earn the 28-year-old the victory – with Tommy Fleetwood finishing one shot back.
Interestingly, that 62 did not exactly appear to be on the cards from Scheffler – even with his incredible form in 2024. He had not scored lower than 67 in any of the first three rounds of the tournament.
Scottie Scheffler shares what he got Ted Scott to start doing at the Olympics
But perhaps one change ultimately helped get him across the line. Of course, it is well known that Scheffler’s putting is his biggest weakness, with The Masters champion almost flawless from tee to green.
The greens at Le Golf National caused some issues, and that prompted Scheffler to make a change which involved getting a second opinion on the putts he needed to hit.
“I think it definitely fluctuated. I felt like at times this week I got more frustrated than I normally do. It was a pretty challenging week there for a while just because I felt like I was doing a lot of things well and I wasn’t getting a lot out of it at times. You know, just watching great players fly up the leaderboard and I feel like they are getting further and further away from me at times,” he said.
“Once again, I always go back to Teddy because he does a really good job of making sure that I’m in the right head space to where I can stay there and be committed to the shot. At times in my career, I’ve let a bad shot affect the next shot, and Teddy has done a really great job of helping me stay in the right head space and making sure that I don’t let that happen.
“This week was definitely one of those weeks. Especially on the greens. I think it was starting Friday on the back nine, he started reading all my putts. That’s something that we had done before and we had not done a lot this year. I was just having trouble seeing the breaks out here.
“We made that adjustment, and Teddy did a really good job of giving me some good reads. And I did a good job of starting them online as often as I did, and fortunate to hole a few.”
An amazing partnership
Scott has rightfully been receiving a lot of credit for the impact he has had on Scheffler’s form. For some, it was little surprise that Scheffler’s worst round at the PGA Championship actually came on the day Scott was not on his bag, rather than the round immediately following his arrest outside Valhalla.
And if Scott can help Scheffler improve on the greens, then it is a no-brainer to continue to have him reading his putts.
That appears to be the only area where Scheffler is average – by the standards of the world’s best golfers – and there is surely little doubt that the quality of the rest of his game does not help how people view the quality of his putting.
Ultimately, fans are going to remember what Scheffler, and Scott, achieved in 2024 for years to come.
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