Smylie Kaufman left stunned by Scottie Scheffler stat after third round at The Open

Add as preferred source on Google

Smylie Kaufman was left stunned by one statistic concerning Scottie Scheffler and his third round at The Open Championship, with the world number one two shots off the lead heading into Sunday.

Scottie Scheffler is ominously positioned heading into the final round of The Open Championship at Royal Troon, with the 28-year-old posting 70, 70, 71 for his week in South Ayrshire.

Scheffler’s level par round on Saturday has put him right back into contention with 18 holes to play, with many of those heading out around him enduring a torrid time in the conditions. Shane Lowry started the day in the lead before posting a 77 to leave himself three back.

But perhaps The Masters champion’s round could have actually been so much better – and unfortunately for Scheffler, it is a familiar problem which has seemingly reared its head.

Scottie Scheffler stat stuns Smylie Kaufman

Speaking on The Smylie Show, Kaufman found out that Scheffler lost three strokes on the field when it came to putting in the third round – with just one player performing worse on the greens.

“Scottie putted bad today, oh man. Minus three, he’s 79th and there’s 80 dudes, so one guy putted worse than him, and that’s Darren Fichardt, but he is last. Wow,” he said.

Story of world number one’s season

Putting has seemingly been the weakest part of Scheffler’s game for a long time now. He is first for total strokes gained on the PGA Tour this season, but that is despite him being 89th for strokes gained with the putter, according to the PGA Tour website.

That is a truly remarkable figure when you consider how dominant he has been; winning six times before July. That highlights just how good the American is between the tee and green, and that is clearly the case this week.

He probably cannot afford to be around level par again if he is going to win on Sunday – you would imagine that one of the many players in contention will go a few shots under par – but clearly, it could be devastating for the field if something clicks for Scheffler on the greens.