Scottie Scheffler dismisses putting woes, posts second-worst putting week since switching equipment last year

ORLANDO, Fla. – At Bay Hill last year, Scottie Scheffler debuted a new mallet putter that turned around his putting struggles and jumpstarted one of the best seasons in the modern era.

Those feels didn’t carry over in Scheffler’s return to Arnie’s Place.

Scheffler’s title defense fell short Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard in no small part because of struggles on the greens.

Scheffler lost 5.3 strokes on the greens at Bay Hill this week, his second-worst putting performance since he switched to the TaylorMade Spider exactly 12 months ago. His only worse week came at last year’s U.S. Open, when he lost 6.03 strokes at Pinehurst No. 2.

The world No. 1 largely dismissed the performance while talking to media Sunday afternoon, placing much of his struggles on Bay Hill’s lightning fast greens.

“Putting on a surface that's practically dead, the ball can have a life of its own,” Scheffler said. “I'm proud of hitting a lot of good putts, just wasn't my week on the greens.”

Bay Hill’s greens were a talking point all week long, with Scheffler’s sentiment largely shared amongst his peers. After the third round, Michael Kim said the 10th green “might be dead, just the fertilizer's the only thing that's keeping it alive, but barely.” Jason Day described them as "glassy." Morikawa said there was “no friction” whatsoever.

Scheffler didn’t hole a putt outside 5 feet in the final round as he carded a Sunday 70. While he struggled with the putter, Scheffler drove it better than anyone in the field. He led the event in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee, a welcome occurrence after he had been hot-and-cold with the driver to begin the year.

From one title defense to another, Scheffler will now attempt to become the first player ever to three-peat at THE PLAYERS Championship. He’s not concerned that the putting woes will make the two-hour drive with him to Ponte Vedra Beach.

“I did a lot of good stuff and, you know, my bad week on the greens felt like I did a lot of things well,” Scheffler said, “so overall I'm not going to look, I would say, too much into it.”