For Scottie Scheffler, his putter needed to cooperate on Sunday if he was to win the Claret Jug and his second major title of the season.
He struggled on the greens in Saturday’s third round, failing to make a putt longer than eight feet and finishing 78th out of 80 players in putting strokes gained.
But none of that pales in comparison to the disaster Scheffler experienced on the par-4 ninth hole at Royal Troon on Sunday.
Scheffler, two strokes behind the leader at 4 under, hit his approach shot just short of the green, then chipped it to about 7 feet beyond the hole, a distance Scheffler had struggled to extend all week.
The world number one missed par after the ball rolled three feet too far.
He couldn’t even make the short putts. Settling for a double bogey 6 That all but wiped out his chances.
Scheffler looked shaken up after the gaffe and it showed in his play. He was out of form and didn’t get anywhere near a birdie on the next few holes. Admittedly, the toughest parts of Royal Troon are the 10th through 14th holes, where birdies are rare and pars are hard to come by, but Scheffler wasn’t his usual self.
As a result, he will miss out on a second major win of the season after his putter completely failed to live up to expectations all week at Royal Troon.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
