Scottie Scheffler has a maxim that he always strictly adheres to: the work is done at home, not during tournament weeks. The World Number One is not a fan of hitting hundreds and hundreds of balls on practice days during the weeks he competes. Those days are dedicated to getting to know the course, understanding the grass, the firmness of the greens, how the ball will behave in certain situations, the lines from the tee… In short, nothing technical about the swing and everything about strategy and attack plan to play that course in the best possible way. This philosophy is non-negotiable.
Given this, imagine how bad he felt on Thursday, during the first round of the WM Phoenix Open, when he signed a scorecard of 73 strokes (two over par) with the cut looming over him, betraying himself. As an exception that proves the rule, Scottie went straight to the practice field right after signing the scorecard. “I was so discouraged that I almost didn’t want to go practice. But I went there and it was well worth it. I felt like I had hit a lot of balls to start the week, more than I normally would; and the truth is it didn’t work out,” he explained this Friday after finishing the second day with a magnificent scorecard of 65 strokes, eight better than Thursday. A strange situation, as he himself assures. “I don’t remember the last time I felt so bad that I didn’t want to practice.”
It’s the great paradox of Scheffler this week at TPC Scottsdale. The double betrayal. First by confessing that he hit more balls than usual in the days before the tournament and second by going back to the practice range to try to resolve what had happened on the first day. The second did work. Although he didn’t feel like it, it worked. “I’ve always been a proponent of saying that you really can’t ‘find it’ during tournament week, but on Thursday I found a little thing in the grip that seemed to help me a lot to place my hands more securely on the club. At times on Thursday, I felt a bit lost out there, so today was much better. I felt more in control of my game. Obviously, you can see it on the scorecard,” he states.
He didn’t go into much detail to explain what had happened or how he had fixed it, but enough to understand it. “It’s a bit difficult to explain. I would describe it as getting the hands a bit more secure on the club. Yesterday afternoon was one of those days of hard work. I try to avoid them as much as possible in tournaments, but after how I felt about the ball, it was totally necessary.” A forced betrayal.
Similarly, Scheffler admitted that he had fallen into the trap that the Phoenix Open always sets for you. It’s something similar to what happens in Augusta. It’s a course where you have to encounter the birdies, not go after them. “It’s a course where, when you’re in play, hitting a lot of fairways, you can build good momentum and make a lot of birdies in a row, especially on the back nine. However, as soon as you start getting into trouble, it can be very tough, especially this year with the higher rough and the greens starting to get firmer. You can’t force this course. Today the pin on 1 was very tough, you practically can’t go for the one on 2… If you start going hunting desperately, you’re going to fall behind very quickly. Maybe that’s why I made so many mistakes yesterday. Today I did a very good job of staying patient even when things weren’t going my way and then played solidly in the final stretch.”
Finally, Scheffler revealed that he still hasn’t put the new TaylorMade driver in the bag. “I’m a difficult person to put a new club in the bag. I’m already a bit reluctant to change, much more so if I have a driver with which I’ve won a lot of tournaments; I’ve had a lot of success with it. I’m not going to put anything in the bag unless I feel it’s better. We’re very close. I’ve seen some improvements, for sure, in the new driver. It just hasn’t quite reached where it needs to be for me to put it in competition.”
