Scottie Scheffler rejects form slump claims ahead of The Players
World number one Scottie Scheffler has dismissed suggestions of an early-season form slump as he prepares to target a historic third title at The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.
The American is aiming to join golfing great Jack Nicklaus as the only other three-time winner of the prestigious Florida event.
However, questions over his current trajectory were raised following a tied-24th finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday.
That result marked his worst PGA Tour finish in 13 months, accompanied by his poorest tournament approach play statistics in four years.
Questioning the media narrative
The 2026 campaign actually began perfectly for the world’s top-ranked player with a dominant four-shot victory at The American Express.
Subsequent finishes of third, fourth, 12th and 24th have created a downward statistical trend, but the Ryder Cup star quickly rejected the negative framing.
“I think that’s kind of a funny question, because if you flipped my season around and it was like, I finished 24th or something last week, 12th, then third and fourth, and a win… would your question be the same?”
“Your expectations of me are living week by week. My expectations of myself are almost more shot by shot.”
Trusting feel over statistics
The six-time worldwide winner insists he is perfectly content with his overall mental approach on the golf course.
Acknowledging that there are always areas for improvement, the Texan maintained that his personal standards remain far higher than those set by outside observers.
“I think I’m always my own biggest critic. No matter what round of golf you look at, I think there’s always something you feel you could do better.”
Despite registering unusually poor data in his recent outings, he remains completely unfazed by the underlying analytics.
“Typically, I’m not a huge stats guy, because my feel is what I trust the most. The conclusion is I’ll trust my feel before anything else.”
He will begin his title defence alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas in the opening two rounds.
