Scottie Scheffler ‘very prepared’ to defend Masters title
AUGUSTA, Ga. — As he attempts to become the first player to win back-to-back Masters since Tiger Woods in 2002 and the only golfer to win three green jackets in four years other than Jack Nicklaus (’63, ’65 ’66), world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is as confident in the state of his game as he has been this season.
“I feel very prepared for this golf tournament,” Scheffler said. “This is definitely the most prepared that I’ve felt all year.”
After winning eight times on Tour in 2024, including the Masters, there was much anticipation for Scheffler’s encore season this year. But after injuring his hand with a wine glass while making homemade ravioli at Christmas and needing surgery, Scheffler was unable to play at The Sentry in Hawaii or The American Express in Palm Springs — two of his usual tour stops.
Scheffler returned to play at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am where he finished in a tie for ninth even though he did not feel his game was in form yet.
“I talked a lot about my preparation and stepping up on the tee at Pebble feeling like I wasn’t exactly where I was when I ended the year just because I had taken so much time off,” Scheffler said. “This year coming off an injury was definitely a different feeling than I’ve had in the last few years.”
Since Pebble, Scheffler has made five more starts and, though he hasn’t won yet (last year he had two wins heading into the Masters), he’s not finished worse than 25th and has had two other top-10 finishes. His last appearance came at the Houston Open two weeks ago where he finished one shot behind the winner, Min Woo Lee, and looked to finally be reaching the form that he channeled all of last year.
“I haven’t had the starts that I would have hoped to start the year,” Scheffler said. “I’ve had some good starts, but I haven’t had any really great ones yet.”
It’s fitting and timely that Scheffler said he’s more prepared than ever heading into Augusta, which has become his comfort zone ever since he turned pro. In five starts, he’s never finished outside the top-20 at the Masters and this week, he is the clear favorite.
“Last year means nothing,” Scheffler said. “Let’s say I get off to a bad start on Thursday, and I can use some stuff that I’ve done here the past few years as confidence to kind of turn things around. But at the end of the day, when I step on there on Thursday, we’re at even par, and it’s a totally new golf tournament.”
Scheffler may not be winning at the same clip as he was last year, but he is slowly creeping back up to his elite ball-striking form. The two-time major winner is currently third in total strokes gained (+2.55), according to Data Golf, which is about half a shot fewer than last season (+3.08) when he topped the sport with that mark by a wide margin. Perhaps more importantly, his putting at Houston 42nd in the field, up 44 spots from his putting performance at the Players Championship.
“I lean more on my feel than the results a lot of the time,” Scheffler said. “I think sometimes you can feel when you’re really close and you can feel when you’re pretty far off, and a lot of times it doesn’t exactly align with the scores.”
To Scheffler’s point, after a 62 in the second round of the Houston Open, he said he felt he couldn’t have shot any lower and needed to work on his game. Then, after shooting just 1-under the following round, he felt like his game was in a much better place.
“Golf can be funny like that,” Scheffler said.
This week, however, there’s no doubt what would constitute a successful week for Scheffler. A win, in his case, would also be historic.
Source: espn.com