The ‘interesting’ stat about Scottie Scheffler which proves his putting is better than many realise

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Hank Haney has suggested that there is one statistic which actually points to Scottie Scheffler being a much better putter than many realise.

Scottie Scheffler has surely wrapped up the player of the year debate after clinching the Olympic gold medal at Le Golf National last week. It was the world number one’s seventh victory of the year, with Scheffler tying the course record on the final day to beat Tommy Fleetwood by one.

Incredibly, Scheffler has only finished outside the top 10 on two occasions this season. Jason Day said Scheffler’s dominance has not been since the days of Tiger Woods. He has such a complete game, particularly from tee to green.

However, there does appear to be one part of his game which is not as strong, with Scheffler 90th on the PGA Tour for strokes gained with the putter. Few will forget Scheffler essentially four-putting on the ninth at The Open to largely take himself out of contention.

Scottie Scheffler may not get enough credit for his putting

Scheffler has definitely improved his putting from last year. But speaking on his podcast, Haney suggested that his performances with the flat stick are actually a lot better than many are giving him credit for.

“Here’s an interesting one, he’s 90th in putting and he’s 37th in three-putt avoidance which is better than 90th, that’s a pretty good three-putt avoidance statistic considering the fact if there’s a weakness in his putting, it’s from short distance,” he said.

“But from 15 to 20 feet, where he hits it a lot – he’s the best iron player there is and he’s hitting it a long way – he’s got short irons into the greens and he’s second on the PGA Tour from 15 to 20 feet, so he’s capitalising when he has the opportunity.”

Moving in the right direction

Scheffler has jumped more than 70 places from last year when it comes to strokes gained with the putter, so it will be very interesting to see what further improvement he could make.

Ultimately, what he is doing right now is clearly working; he almost feels unstoppable even with his flaws on the greens. So he may be wary of putting too much focus on his putting, as that could impact the quality of the rest of his game.

But it is frightening to think of what may happen even if he got himself down to being in the top 60 for strokes gained with the putter in the coming years.