Scottie Scheffler hasn’t been himself so far this year, and that was abundantly clear in his opening round at the Memorial.
Scheffler is looking to become the second man to win three straight Memorial Tournaments this year, following in the footsteps of Tiger Woods, but he’s left himself with plenty of work to do after Thursday’s play.
He started his tournament one over par, six shots behind the leading pack which includes the 2025 Tour Championship winner Tommy Fleetwood.
After the world number one found the water on the 16th hole, he went on a long rant aimed at his caddie Ted Scott. He told Scott that he’s been hitting it well all day, so he was frustrated that this didn’t equate to a good score.
But the stats show that the area of Scheffler’s game that was once his biggest strength was his biggest weakness at Muirfield Village.
Scottie Scheffler’s irons were a glaring weakness at the Memorial Tournament
Scheffler’s opening round at the Memorial Tournament can be put down to one glaring weakness in his game: his iron play.
In all other areas, the four-time major winner played pretty well. He gained over a stroke around the greens, which is difficult to do at this difficult venue, and over a stroke off the tee which he has struggled with so far this year.
The only reason Scheffler didn’t shoot under par during Thursday’s play was his iron play. He lost 2.66 strokes to the field over his first 18 holes on approach, making him the fifth worst player on approach on the day.
Most of this came on the 16th when he found the water. On that hole alone Scheffler lost 1.78 strokes to the field. But throughout the back nine he played poorly.
Scheffler lost over a stroke on the 14th hole, and his back nine added up to 2.35 strokes lost to the field.
This is now becoming part of a concerning trend for the best player in the game.
Scottie Scheffler having his worst approach play year since 2021
While Scheffler’s approach play hasn’t been bad this season, it’s still been his worst iron play year in five years.
Scheffler has gained 0.86 strokes to the field on approach so far in 2025, which would be really good for anyone else. But considering that last year, when he won six times, Scheffler gained 1.46 strokes on approach, and in 2024 it was 1.56 strokes gained, it’s been a poor year for the American.
In fact, Scheffler hasn’t played this poorly with his irons since his second year on the PGA Tour in 2021, where he gained 0.32 strokes to the field on approach.
Since The Masters, Scheffler looked to have turned his iron play around. He gained over a stroke on approach in four of his last five events.
But his opening round showing at the Memorial Tournament shows there’s still a lot of work to do to get back to the form he was in last season.
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