On paper, Scottie Scheffler appears to be knocking on the door just as hard as the likes of Collin Morikawa and Justin Thomas when it comes to winning on the PGA Tour in 2025.
Scottie Scheffler has not yet finished outside of the top 25 on the PGA Tour in 2025. But of course, that is not exactly enough for the world number one who won nine times worldwide in 2024.
Some think Scheffler has had an extremely disappointing year so far. However, that started to turn around this past week, with the 28-year-old, once again, finishing second at the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
Scheffler had led at the halfway stage after tying the course record in the second round. But a lacklustre Saturday meant that he ultimately left himself with just a little too much to do in the final round to catch Min Woo Lee.
The shot Scottie Scheffler hit at the Houston Open which surprised Smylie Kaufman
The chances were there however, with Scheffler making four birdies in a row during the back nine on Sunday. But pars on 17 and 18 meant that he would finish one shot behind the Australian, who secured his first win on the PGA Tour.
Unsurprisingly, Smylie Kaufman has suggested on The Smylie Show that he saw some encouraging signs from Scheffler ahead of his defence at The Masters. But he did admit that he was a little taken aback by how he was unable to push through the gears on the final two holes in Houston.
“I never really felt like he was in the golf tournament yesterday until all of a sudden he was on 16, when Min brought everybody back into the tournament after he hit the water ball off the tee. He played well, no doubt about it. He played really well but Min was so far up it never felt like it was going to be that close.
Teddy, I asked him if he wanted to know what was going on. He said yes. I said Min hit it in the water on 16, this was walking to 17, so he knew what the situation was and Scottie is not a person who wants to know the situation. I guess Teddy would tell him if he needed to know but I thought 17, leaving the putt short, after watching [Jesper] Svensson right before him leave it short, he knew it was a slow putt. It wasn’t an easy putt to make but I was hoping he would give it a better chance there. Then 18 was an interesting one. It was 190 yards and the wind was definitely tough to figure out whether it was helping or hurting off the right,” he said.
“He is typically so good at hitting these three quarter hold shots with irons so I was surprised to see the seven iron and for it to come that far short was a little bit of a surprise. Very rarely do you see them get it that wrong. Him and Ted. But they definitely got that shot wrong at 18 because I don’t think he hit it that badly.
“Overall impressions for Scottie for the week were that he putted well, I thought his ball striking, especially his driving looked good when I watched him over the weekend. The iron game was okay at times, good at times. But if you wanted Scottie get into contention, you wanted to see him round into form a little bit, this was a good week, if you are a Scottie Scheffler fan looking for him to win three out of four at the Masters.”
How Scottie Scheffler reacted to finishing second at the Houston Open in 2024 ahead of his second Masters win
If Scheffler is looking for positive signs heading into the first major of the year, he can perhaps take comfort from the fact that he was also a runner-up in Houston 12 months ago.
On that occasion, it was Stephan Jaeger who got the victory. Like Lee on Sunday, it was the German’s first ever win on the PGA Tour.
And interestingly, Scheffler appeared to be similarly content with his performance at Memorial Park 12 months ago.
“Yeah, another good week, I gave myself a chance to win the tournament. That’s where I want to be at the beginning of the week. And today was fun, obviously I wish it would have ended a little differently, but I hit what I felt like were a lot of good putts there toward the end, just couldn’t get one to go in,” he said after his final round in 2024.
Of course, his next appearance would see Scheffler secure his second green jacket at Augusta National. So it should surprise no-one if that first win of 2025 is just around the corner after his latest performance in Houston.
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