Scottie Scheffler leaves US Open with 1 conundrum solved
SOUTHAMPTON, NY – Scottie Scheffler is confused. Indeed, you are the best in the world in playing this impossible game. He has improved every year since he got the profile. He has won more times than any golfer since Tiger Woods. But he is confused right now, he is facing a dilemma.
What happened in his first rounds?
Scheffler was stuck with that thought Sunday night, about 20 minutes after his first attempt at a grand slam ended.
“At the end of the day, I don’t really know what it is,” she said. “I’ve been very good in the first rounds the last few years, and for some reason the sharpness wasn’t there at the beginning of the tournaments.
It would take a final round of 67 – rather than the 71 he entered – to get into a playoff with Wyndham Clark, the US Open Champ, but that Scheffler seems to have zeroed in on Thursday with a 72. It was eight shots worse than Clark’s opening 64 and created a split with world No. 1 could not close for about 54 hours. If he had 18 more, he would have been close. If, if, if.
For now, as viewers, the smartest course of action seems to be to withdraw, stay the course, trust Scottie. He remains the most gifted golfer we’ve seen in years, and his implosion on Thursday was probably just a blip. It would feel unfair and surprising if Scheffler never managed the US Open, if he never finished his career. He finished in the top 10 at the event five times. We’re taking Slamspeak seriously next June, and with even greater intensity. It will be at Pebble Beach, a course we don’t know much better than Shinnecock.
Still, it’s worth bookmarking our shoulda-coulda thoughts. They are not like that nothing. Scheffler’s season, while brilliant in big-picture stats, was defined Thursday by mistakes of his own making. This time it happened. He doesn’t have more than 36 career goals. He doesn’t have more than 54 home runs yet. His 2026 year left him shaking his head at times, so much so that just being on the final Sunday of the pairing felt, “it’s good to be back on the field.” [and not] outside looking in.”
And what can you do with a grand slam? This was only Scheffler’s first opportunity, but it was one of his best at the US Open. At the moment, that’s not a big deal. That is a step in the right direction. But the longer that box goes unchecked, the more difficult the chase will start to feel. If only I had it … it gets worse over time.
Phil Mickelson had 34 holes in the US Open and came up short 34 times. Since winning the 2017 Open Championship, Jordan Spieth has made 10 attempts at the PGA, and he’s never come close. Tom Watson finished his career with 10 top 10 finishes on the PGA but zero firsts. Many of the sport’s one-name legends have reached similar incomplete statistics: Trevino, Snead, Arnie. Even Byron Nelson, whose event gave Scheffler his first PGA Tour start, was embarrassed.
What’s so great about Scheffler? He’s probably not remotely worried about any of that. Still, his memory is good enough to remember him sliding the green jacket over Rory McIlroy’s shoulders when he finished his slam.
If Scheffler knows anything in particular, it’s how tight the margins are and how straightforward his work is. The need — to win the toughest tournament of the year, with one chance every year — almost seems unfair. Does Scheffler have 20 more tries? Is it like 15? Fewer than that? At the US Open, opportunities disappear before you register them as opportunities. His first round felt low on Thursday morning. Thursday evening was a thorn in his side. On Sunday night, it was all he could say to explain why Wyndham Clark grabbed the only silver medal missing from the Scheffler Cup.
“Yes,” he said at the end of his press conference, “that’s good as I will be able to elaborate.”
It was the last response of his press conference on Sunday night, and enough for now. There will be time for him to solve the grand-slam quest; as he closed Sunday he was trying to solve something a little simpler. It was Father’s Day and his young son, Bennett was sitting on the floor next to him, crying out of sight of the cameras. It was Scheffler’s 30th birthday, too. Life outside of golf was coming back to catch up. Scheffler stood up from the podium, slipped on a bag labeled with the name of his second son, Remy, wrapped Bennett in his arms and left Shinnecock.
“Okay friend, let’s go buy dinner,” he said with the calmness of someone who doesn’t think like the rest of us.
“Pizza? Pizza.”
