It was a familiar story for Scottie Scheffler at the Genesis Invitational this past week, with the world number one recovering from a slow start to finish towards the right end of the leaderboard.
Scottie Scheffler, of course, has seen his run of top 10s end. You would have to go back to The Players Championship last year for the last time the 29-year-old finished outside of the top 10.
Are you concerned about Scottie Scheffler right now?
He is really struggling with his first rounds right now…
He did manage to finish in a tie for 12th at the Genesis Invitational. It was an extremely impressive performance considering that he was five over par through 10 holes when play was suspended on Thursday.
The week also saw Scheffler lose strokes to the field with his approach play.
The 2026 Genesis Invitational is an anomaly in the career of Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler ended each of the past three seasons in first place on the PGA Tour for strokes gained approach. So it is striking that he struggled at Riviera.
In fact, it is the first time that Scheffler has ended a tournament having lost strokes with his approach play since the 2024 BMW Championship, according to numbers from Data Golf.
That week at Castle Pines saw Scheffler struggle to contain his anger as he failed to completely adapt to the change in altitude.
The last five PGA Tour events where Scottie Scheffler has lost strokes to the field with his approach play
No other player could win and register a finish no worse than 12th in their first four starts of the season and still spark an inquest.
But Scheffler has set such a remarkable standard over the last few years that it is natural to wonder why it is not quite clicking for him at the start of 2026.
Three of the last five tournaments in which Scheffler has lost strokes to the field with his approach play came back in 2022.
This is far from a common occurrence.
And yet, it would not be a surprise to see Scheffler figure everything out and get back to his best in the near future.
The rest of the PGA Tour will be worried about when that does happen.
Receive exclusive golf news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
