Brad Faxon: What Scottie Scheffler had to deal with at The Open was ‘like a two-stroke penalty’

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Scottie Scheffler has actually played some fantastic golf at The Open Championship this week.

However, Scheffler’s putter has been ice cold during the first three rounds of The Open, and he is currently four strokes adrift of the leader, Sam Burns, with just 18 holes left to play.

The 30-year-old world number one could easily be sitting at the top of the leaderboard at Royal Birkdale, had he just putted averagely this week.

In spite of his poor putting, though, Scottie Scheffler still has an outside chance of winning The Open on Sunday.

Scheffler has putted exceptionally well in 2026 for the most part, but his flat-stick will need to get seriously hot on Sunday if he is to defend the claret jug he won last year at Royal Portrush.

What Scottie Scheffler had to deal with at The Open was ‘like a two-stroke penalty’

Scheffler was paired alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton during the first two rounds of The Open.

DeChambeau said he actually enjoyed playing with Scheffler at The Open during the first two days.

However, Brad Faxon thinks the world number one was dealt a bad hand by the R&A.

“Pairings make a big difference,” Faxon said.

“So many things can influence how a player plays.

“Scottie had a tough pairing with Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton, two guys that are difficult to play with. It’s almost like a two-stroke penalty.”

Scottie Scheffler is only ever focused on his own game

DeChambeau and Hatton can be fiery characters out on the golf course, but Scheffler is a consummate professional and he would have been entirely focused on his own game.

The other way to look at it is that Scheffler posted two rounds of 68 when playing alongside DeChambeau and Hatton, but he shot 70 on Saturday when playing alongside Francesco Molinari.

If he allowed his playing partners to dictate the way that he plays, he would not have achieved what he has in the game.

Scottie Scheffler may not have chosen DeChambeau and Hatton as playing partners at The Open.

However, his grouping would not have affected how he played, I’m certain of that.