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Scottie Scheffler in familiar position, trailing as he chases PLAYERS Championship three-peat

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4 hours ago

March 15, 2025

Scottie Scheffler spent much of Friday morning frustrated.

The putts weren’t falling, his dependable cut wasn’t cutting, and on a day that he watched his closest challenger, world No. 2 Rory McIlroy jump into contention, Scheffler only treaded water.

“The last two days I felt like I could have scored a lot better,” Scheffler said after a 2-under 70 in the second round of THE PLAYERS Championship. Scheffler is 5-under overall (T15), six shots back of co-leaders Min Woo Lee and Akshay Bhatia.

That sentiment was evident in Scheffler’s emotions, which danced between annoyed and angry as he traversed a gettable TPC Sawgrass on Friday. He slumped over after numerous missed putts and slammed his club against his bag after an errant approach on the seventh hole. His last stroke symbolized the day, a birdie putt that burned the edge of the hole. Scheffler stood there exasperated.

“The amount of good putts I hit that just went right around the hole … at times last year those were the putts that would go in, and the last few weeks seems like they haven’t been,” Scheffler said.

Scheffler’s start to THE PLAYERS has been an apt encapsulation to the start of his 2025. He certainly isn’t playing badly; he’s just not mirroring the dominance of his 2024 season. He flirted with contention in each of his three starts, but something has held him back in each one – a rotating reason depending on the week, from his driver to his putter.

The precision that defined Scheffler’s nine-win season has lapsed in moments, which in turn has made the difference between a win and a top-10. Scheffler had those moments again Friday. He hit his drive into the water on the 14th hole, hitting a cut off the left bunkers that didn’t cut. Scheffler nearly hit the newly replanted overhanging tree at the sixth hole, another ball that never cut and led to another bogey.

Yet despite the imperfections, Scheffler’s quest for an historic three-peat is not a lost cause. Look back to last year as evidence. Scheffler trailed by the same amount – six shots behind after two rounds – struggling with a neck injury that limited his swing. He was five shots back heading into the final round. Then he authored one of the best Sunday charges in PLAYERS history, hunting down Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele to become the first back-to-back PLAYERS champion.

“I don’t have to play perfect golf in order to try to win tournaments, and sometimes I try to lean on that a little bit when I’m out there,” Scheffler said. “But I talk about it a lot. Last year was last year. This year’s a totally different year.

“But I can remember some of those experiences of playing some decent golf when I was injured and so if there’s a day where I’m not swinging it so well or things just feel off, I can kind of remind myself of times like that.”