One surprising Scottie Scheffler putting stat which ranks him on the top of the charts
Scottie Scheffler has had a tremendous season. He's the world's top-ranked golfer right now, and he has been at or near that position the entire time. He didn't win a major championship, but he was excellent all season. That may have been in spite of a shocking statistic.
Scheffler is absolutely awful in putting scenarios, ranking outside the top 145 in strokes gained/putting on the PGA Tour. That's alarmingly bad, and it begs the question of how much better he would have been with just average putting skills this year.
Generally speaking, this doesn't hurt Scheffler as much. His first putts land closer to the hole than most other golfers, but this is actually due to his excellent striking. He shoots his first putts from closer, so naturally, they end up closer.
With better putting, some of those first putts would be only putts, and his scores would go down even further. It's impossible to say what he would have done, but his numbers and point totals would be even stronger. That's hard to imagine for the number one with 11.619 average points in OWGR, but it's true.
Despite this advantage in putting location, his make percentages from 20–25’ (150th ranked), 10-15’ (166th), and 4–8’ (169th) are pretty bad all around. Put simply, he has not been very good at putting this year.
No golfer can truly excel at all aspects of the game, but the world number one having such a glaring weakness is pretty surprising.
Perhaps it will take an equipment change like Lucas Glover's, but if Scottie Scheffler can find a stronger putt, then he might put an even larger gap between himself and the rest of his companions on the PGA Tour.
Scottie Scheffler unbothered by the LIV Golf drama
With all the drama surrounding the PGA Tour merger with LIV Golf, some golfers have been distracted. It is an unprecedented era in golf, and things are happening without much clarity.
Scottie Scheffler isn't worried about all that, which may be part of why he's been able to enjoy such an impressive season. In fact, he's not really worried about anything in regards to LIV Golf.
Many relationships were damaged by one party defecting to LIV, but that's not the case with Scheffler.
He doesn't care if anyone plays on the PGA or LIV:
“When all those guys left, I didn't have any hard feelings for anybody. If they wanted to go, take the money and go over there and play, it's their decision. It's not my business to get into their business, if that makes sense… None of my relationships were really fractured by them going to LIV.”
The golfer has also gone on record as saying that LIV and PGA shouldn't matter for the Ryder Cup. Currently, there's no indication as to whether or not Brooks Koepka, who is likely to fall out of his qualifying spot, will be selected by Zach Johnson.
For many, including Scottie Scheffler, it doesn't matter where they play. If they're good enough, let them join.