Genesis Invitational
This photo sums up Scottie Scheffler's putting struggles right now
Ronald Martinez
LOS ANGELES — Scottie Scheffler's putting struggles have officially become impossible to ignore. Even if he still believes it's a media-driven narrative.
Scheffler himself has had trouble hiding his frustrations at Riviera, where through two rounds of the Genesis Invitational, he's 68th in strokes gained/putting. With Tiger Woods withdrawing due to an illness, and now Jordan Spieth being disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard, that means Scheffler is dead last in that category.
Here was Scheffler's reaction after three-putting from nine feet on the 16th hole during Thursday's opening round:
He also lost his cool to the point that he whipped his ball into the trees. Also from Thursday:
It didn't get much better on Friday, when Scheffler lost nearly two full strokes on the greens. He's -4.493 with the flat stick for the week, and he's missed eight putts inside of 10 feet. As it stands, he's nine back of leader Patrick Cantlay, who has gone 27 of 27 from inside of 10 feet this week.
The photo that truly sums it up, though, is this screenshot of Scheffler marking a putt from all of one foot, as opposed to going up and confidently tapping it in:
For the year, Scheffler ranks 107th in SG/putting, a slight improvement from his finishing standing of 167th last season. And, in fairness, he did gain on the greens in each of his last two starts, resulting in a pair of top-six finishes. But judging by some of his reactions this week, even he is starting to lose patience.