He kept his made-cut streak alive by making the weekend on the number, but the U.S. Open was greatly disappointing for Scottie Scheffler.
The massive pre-tourney favorite made just four birdies all week and failed to break par at Pinehurst en route to finishing the event 8-over. It's the first time in his professional career that he's shot four consecutive over-par rounds - a number that actually stretches to five if you add the final round of his win last week at The Memorial.
While Scheffler was quick to speak glowingly of his experience at the Jack Nicklaus-hosted signature event, he admitted he likely didn't help himself this week at Pinehurst.
"I'm obviously not going to skip Jack's tournament. It's a tournament I love playing. It's a tournament that I'm humbled to be the champion at," Scheffler said after Sunday's round. "But, as far as prep for this week, it may not have been the best, but I knew what my schedule was at the beginning of the year. I had it set. That was always the way it was going to be. I feel like going forward, I'll maybe do things a little bit differently in the weeks leading up to the majors, especially when you know it's going to be a challenging setup at a U.S. Open."
The PGA TOUR calendar changed this year, as The Memorial moved back a week from its traditional place two weeks before the U.S. Open. It was also given signature event status, making it virtually a must-play for the top players in the world.
While Scheffler emerged with his fifth victory already on the young season, the layout at Pinehurst is incredibly different than Muirfield Village. That was most evident for Scheffler on the greens this week.
He finished the week ranked 55th of 74 players to make the cut in putting and said afterward those struggles will likely lead to a change in prep work next time the U.S. Open is at Pinehurst in 2029.
"When we come back here in a few years, I'll probably try to do a lot more work getting things going on the greens," Scheffler said. "I felt like I did a lot of my work around the greens this week, and maybe I needed to do more; the practice greens weren't the same speed as the course, and it was hard to find something similar."
Scheffler finished his round sitting in a tie for 43rd - a finish that would represent his worst on TOUR since October 2022. However, he won't have to wait long to turn things around as he's in the field next week at the Travelers Championship in Connecticut.
