Scottie Scheffler hit. And hit. No matter that his round had finished a couple hours ago. No matter that a steady rain was soaking his white hat, black vest, white shirt and blue pants. Under the eye of longtime swing coach Randy Smith and caddie Ted Scott, Scheffler hit on the muddy range at TPC Sawgrass. And hit.
Because of mishits.
It was that kind of day at the Players Championship, at least when looking at the standard for the world No. 1. Scheffler had shot an even-par 72, and he trailed early wave leader Maverick McNealy by just five. But it was the means in which Scheffler arrived at his number that was alarming. He went right off the tee. Often. He hit seven fairways. And he went right seven times. He went right on No. 10, his opening hole. And 12. And 14. And 15. And 16. And 5. And 7. “Yeah, just kept going right,” Scheffler said.
But why? Scheffler said it had to do with a driver switch. Gone is TaylorMade’s new Qi4D driver, which he had used at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. Back is the Qi10 that he’s played for the past two seasons.
“I’ve seen some improvements in the new driver; like my spin is much more consistent,” Scheffler said after his round. “It’s actually a touch faster than my driver. But the way I play, I always hit so many different types of shots and the one last week felt like it was going a little left on me, and when I want to hit my peeler, a lot of times I would hit it out of the middle of the face and it would start drawing on me, so I think that’s a little bit today why the ball started going way right.
“You look at a hole like 14, 7, 16, you can’t really miss left. I don’t think I had enough trust in what the driver head was doing compared to where I was last week. I think it can be tough sometimes to kind of block that stuff out.
“But I have seen some improvements in the new driver. It’s just I haven’t been able to trust it in all the different shots that I hit, especially off the tee.”
Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee posited that Scheffler’s recent struggles extend beyond his driver indecision to his swing.
“I don’t even recognize this golf swing from Scottie Scheffler; it’s a foot-and-a-half shorter than it was last year and the face is wide open,” Chamblee said to his “Live From” partner Paul McGinley on Thursday evening. “That’s the source of the problem.”
To which McGinley said, “Yeah, it’s quite clear how much shorter his swing is now. Generally, in my experience, when you’re swing gets shorter, it’s known to do with anxiety. You’re not free flowing. You’re trying to poke it down there. You’re afraid to miss it.”
There were positives on Thursday. Scheffler gained strokes to the field in approach and putting. He birdied the par-5 9th, his final hole of the day, in one of the tidiest ways you’ll see: tee ball down the left side of the fairway, layup to 70 yards, wedge to 2 feet. “It’s nice finishing that way versus the other way,” he said.
There’s also confidence in the old driver. In 2024, Scheffler won nine tournaments, including the Masters and the Olympics event. Last year, he won six events, including two majors.
Still, he needed to hit.
And hit.
“I mean, it’s easier hitting it from the fairway than it is from the rough,” Scheffler said. “I played from the rough a lot today. Like I said, I hit some good iron shots, which was really nice. Had that nice wedge in on 9, really sharp iron shot into 6, and I did a pretty good job of managing my way around the course.
“I gave up some shots late that I shouldn’t have. I felt like I got a bad lie in the rough on 8, missed on the correct side. But 7, I made a mental error. Two was messy after getting it in the fairway.
“So just little stuff. Just got to be a little sharper.”
