Arnold Palmer Invitational: Scottie Scheffler’s decimation blows fans’ minds
Scottie Scheffler reminded the golf world why he is the No. 1 player in the world Sunday. He destroyed the Arnold Palmer Invitational field to earn his seventh PGA Tour victory.
He carded a final round 6-under 66, to finish at 15-under, five strokes ahead of runner-up Wyndham Clark.
Scheffler made a putter change this week and his work on the greens have gotten better each day. He switched to a mallet-style flat stick, and things clicked into place.
After the first round, the former Texas Longhorn ranked No. 55 in strokes gained putting. He moved up to No. 28 after Friday. Saturday got even better for him on the greens, moving up to No. 10.
Scheffler sank all 16 of his putts Sunday inside 15 feet. That’s a remarkable feat.
Fans went from watching Scheffler miss 3-foot putts and trolling him about it to dropping their jaws as he seemed to make every putt on Sunday.
It’s universally understood that if Scheffler can successfully use his flat stick, beating him is nearly impossible. He is already one of the best ball strikers ever, and now the putter is getting hot.
As X user Trevor Grinzel said, “Scottie Scheffler with a working putter is a major problem for the entire world of professional golf.”
Scottie Scheffler with a working putter is a major problem for the entire world of professional golf.
— Trevor Grinzel (@trevor_grinzel) March 10, 2024
It had been almost a year since Scheffler won a sanctioned PGA Tour event — last year’s Players Championship.
Technically, he took home the Hero World Challenge title, but that didn’t earn him any FedEx Cup points. While his lowest finish in 2024 is a T17, his opponents seeing him putt well again has to feel like a gut punch. They had a chance while he struggled to drop putts, but now, it almost seems unfair.
This X user pulled this gif out of his hat to compare Scheffler to Happy Gilmore, which is a perfect comparison.
Shane Bacon is also onto something with his whole “turning golf off and just seeing how many Scheffler wins by later” idea.
The PGA Tour has two events going on this weekend, so turning on the Puerto Rico Open to see how it finishes could be more entertaining with Scheffler throttling the field.
I think we have arrived at the “I feel comfortable turning the golf off and checking how many shots Scottie wins by later tonight” portion of this Scheffler exhibition.
— Shane Bacon (@shanebacon) March 10, 2024
Is it time for Scottie scheffler to become president of the United States?
— fuz (@FuzzicIe) March 10, 2024
I don’t think Scottie Scheffler is losing OWGR No. 1 for the rest of his career now lol
— TrackingScheffler (@SchefflerLegion) March 10, 2024
With Scheffler destroying the field like he did on Sunday, it’s hard to see anyone else taking his No. 1 ranking any time soon.
Savannah Leigh Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, be sure to follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirlSL and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
