WHY IS THE GREAT SCHEFFLER STRUGGLING IN MAJORS — AND WHY, TIGER, WHY?
If we watch to see Scheffler win and Woods fight, Friday was another painful struggle, as we wonder about a traffic episode in Louisville and ask who hasn’t broken par in a round in 12 straight majors
The bettors pick Scottie Scheffler because he wins and pick Tiger Woods because he loses. They are choosing the flowers of golf, from now and the past, and this weekend at the U.S. Open, neither will be on your Father’s Day screens. Scheffler’s last major event was where he “assaulted a cop” before he was cleared of all charges. Knowing how he fell short at the PGA Championship, though he won last weekend, has the mess wrecked his mind when we’re all watching the big ones?
We must ask at the moment after Scheffler, who won the Masters and looked ready to dominate the sport, barely made the cut Friday at Pinehurst No. 2. At No. 15, his woes on the greens prompted him to hurl his putter — five times in a twirler’s cycle, before it hit the soil — and make us think of Louisville. Always in control, he hasn’t been the same in a major since he illegally bypassed the scene of a deadly accident. Maybe he’ll shut us up at the British Open. But at No. 17, his shot veered toward a bunker.
“Maybe the worst shot I’ve ever seen you hit,” he said, speaking to himself.
There are those, like me, who think Scheffler should have idled his car instead of driving. And there are those who think he was bamboozled by a police dope. Whatever, we’re seeing a man who suddenly looks challenged as he’s called the most complete player since Epic Tiger. In 2024, majors are viewed for two prime reasons: Scheffler is starting to climb the all-time leaderboard, and Woods is bravely trying to make cuts. Both crashed, with Scheffler’s two-day score of 145 leaving him tied for 57th and 10 shots behind leader Ludvig Aberg, while Woods finished at 7-over.
It isn’t quite time to refigure Scheffler’s place in the game, as he should win many majors at just 27. Nor is it quite time to consider if Woods should retire and rest his body at 48. But this was a day when we should determine another holiday plan, unless you like Rory McIlroy, a dad who has called off divorce proceedings with wife Erica and will try to win his first major in 10 years.
“Playing poor golf is not fun,” Scheffler said.
“I didn’t hit the ball very well,” Woods said. Asked if this might be his final Open, he said, “As far as my last Open Championship or U.S. Open Championship, I don’t know what that is. It may or may not be.”
Through his accidents and injuries and scandals, the world realizes the end of Woods came five years ago. His victory at Augusta National won’t be repeated, except in his brainstream. He arrived in North Carolina believing he could win the Open, which last happened in 2008. “I feel like I have the strength to be able to do it,” he said Tuesday. “It’s just a matter of doing it. This golf course is going to test every single aspect of my game, especially mentally, and just the mental discipline that it takes to play this particular golf course, it's going to take a lot.”
He also believed warm weather would help. “It's like home. Hot and humid is what we deal with every single day at home in Florida, so that's nothing new,” he said. “It's just making sure that I keep hydrated and the mental tax that the heat will bring. It's going to bring it to all of us, not just me. Everyone is going to be tested.”
The course tested him to the point where I glanced at the record books. He hasn’t broken par in a round in 12 consecutive majors. The last time he did so was the 2022 PGA Championship in Tulsa. Is he ready to become a competitive golfer yet? When he once mastered marquee events, showing up and boarding his private jet quickly must be pure hell. He did receive the Bob Jones Award for sportsmanship this week from the USGA. He also lurks near the madness of the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, still unable to help the warring billionaires reach an agreement. “Is there light at the end of the tunnel? I think we're closer to that point,” Woods said of recent activity. “We discussed a lot of different endings and how we could get there. I think that both sides walked away from the meeting, we all felt very positive in that meeting.”
But winning a major? He loves Bob Jones. In his last six tries, he has missed the cut or withdrawn five times.
“Well, it was probably the highest score I could have possibly shot today,” Woods said. “I hit a lot of good shots that just didn't quite go my way, or I hit good putts, and then I put myself in a couple bad spots with some bad lag putts.
“It's one of those things where in order to win a golf tournament, you have to make the cut. I can't win the tournament from where I'm at, so it certainly is frustrating. I thought I played well enough to be up there in contention. It just didn't work out.”
Finally, at No. 18, Scheffler hit an awful drive and reacted with more rage. His driver ended up where the putter soared, slammed to the turf. At least he made the cut. “It was definitely a grind,” he said.
He was better off going home.
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Jay Mariotti, called “without question the most impacting Chicago sportswriter of the past quarter-century,’’ writes general sports columns for Substack while appearing on some of the 1,678,498 podcasts and shows in production today. He is an accomplished columnist, TV panelist and talk/podcast host. Living in Los Angeles, he gravitated by osmosis to film projects.