Second again – why has Scheffler stopped winning?

July 27, 2026 No Comments

Second again – why has Scheffler stopped winning?Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, World number one Scottie Scheffler did not win any of golf’s four major championships in 2026ByJoe BradshawBBC Sport senior journalistPublished54 minutes agoIt has been six months since world number one Scottie Scheffler won a golf tournament.Given he earned 14 victories over the previous two seasons, it is a drought few could have conceived when he triumphed at the American Express Open on 27 January 2026.The four majors have passed without a Scheffler victory – he won both the US PGA Championship and The Open in 2025 – while two weeks ago he missed his first cut in 78 events, ending the longest unbroken streak on the PGA Tour.On Sunday, he was runner-up in Minnesota to PGA Tour rookie Jackson Koivun.

So is the world’s best player past his peak?

Was it mere hyperbole to compare him favourably with Tiger Woods when he was racking up the victories on tour?

Or does his consistency suggest the floodgates are about to re-open?

Woods comparisons continue after Scheffler wins again
How ‘Tiger-like’ Scheffler is conquering golf

What are the possible reasons for lack of wins?

Leaving it too late?

At the top of his powers, Scheffler, 30, is a front-running machine.

Of his 20 victories on tour, 75% have come when he has held the lead going into the final round, albeit his most recent three victories have been when trailing after 54 holes.

This season however, he has not even been joint leader after the third round and therefore always been chasing on a Sunday.

Take the 3M Open this weekend. He shot an eight-under 63 to finish second behind exciting new talent Koivun, but was still three shots back.

Twice in 2026 he has lost in a play-off, to Matt Fitzpatrick and Viktor Hovland. Both times Scheffler trailed going into round four and duly reeled in the leader, only to fall short on the extra hole.

Early in his career, Scheffler coughed up the lead after 54 holes a number of times, including when leading Rory McIlroy by six shots at the Tour Championship in 2022.

Since then, when in front with 18 to play, he has ruthlessly converted. This season, he has not given himself that chance.

A graphic of Scottie Scheffler's ranks this season - strokes gained 1st, greens in regulation 1st, approach to green 10th, scrambling 1st, putting 5th, scoring average 1st

Failing to put everything together at once?

At his best, there is an inevitability to Scheffler winning – but over the course of any tournament, a dip in one element can cost him.

For instance, The Open at Royal Birkdale was won brilliantly by New Zealand’s Ryan Fox but, if Scheffler’s putter had worked during the week, he would have reclaimed the title he took at Royal Portrush last year.

In his second round alone, he missed seven birdie putts from 15 feet or less – four inside 10 feet – and was ranked 60th in the field on the greens.

It is an Achilles’ heel that has dogged Scheffler before, but the PGA Tour has him as fifth-best putter, external on tour in 2026 – so it is certainly not a problem every week.

Or perhaps slow starts are costing him. On nine occasions this season, including at the Masters and the US Open, he has begun with a round of 70 or over, leaving himself playing catch-up for the rest of the tournament.

A glance at Scheffler’s record shows metronomic consistency across all facets of his game.

Winning a golf tournament is just really, really hard to do.

How Fox kept cool at baked Birkdale to win The Open

Winning does not matter to him?

Before The Open, Scheffler doubled down on previous comments he had made about there being “more to life than playing golf”.

Despite being ranked as the world’s best player for more than three years, the Texan told reporters the thought of making history “just isn’t that important”.

A devout Christian and now with two young children, Scheffler has made it clear he would happily walk away from the game if it harmed his family life.

However, before speculating that such a perspective would harm his competitive edge, it is worth evaluating the on-course demeanour of a player who is expressive when his game is not going as well as he would like.

Any suggestion Scheffler does not care about winning would be dismissed within seconds by his caddie Ted Scott, who mentioned earlier this year:, external “If Scheffler was playing a nine-year-old girl in ping pong, he would want to beat her 21-nothing!”

Still by far the world’s best

If wins are the only currency, both Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young have three on tour this season, while Wyndham Clark has a regular victory and a US Open.

But a glance at the FedEx Cup’s season-long rankings reassert Scheffler’s dominance.

Players are awarded points for where they finish in a tournament – and Scheffler has 795 more than Fitzpatrick in second.

That is because even though he has not win since January, he has done everything but.

Sunday’s second place at the 3M Open was his fifth runners-up finish – only the second golfer in 40 years to have at least five second places in a season on the PGA Tour.

He has also finished third on two occasions, and in the top five 11 times across 17 starts in 2026. It is a body of work that dwarfs anything put together by his rivals.

“I think I’ve been really close to winning some tournaments and that can be frustrating,” Scheffler mentioned before the Scottish Open.

“At the same time, I’ve had some good results – a fourth and a second are not bad results by any means. Margins in golf are really small and I just keep trying to do my best.”

The lack of wins has not prevented him stretching his lead at the top of the Official World Golf rankings, external either.

In fact, the distance between him and second-placed Rory McIlroy is equivalent to between McIlroy and America’s Matt McCarty (in 67th).

Scheffler has been world number one since 21 May 2023 – nearly 166 weeks. Woods’ unbroken record stands at 281 weeks, between June 2005 and October 2010.

That intimidating record is still more than two years off for Scheffler, but current evidence suggests knocking him off top spot will be extraordinarily difficult.

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