World No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler enters this week's Players Championship coming off his worst finish in over a year. He finished tied for 24th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. That came on the heels of Scheffler snapping his modern PGA-Tour record top-10 streak with a T12 at the Genesis Invitational.
While his recent results may not be up to his legendary status, almost any player would happily take a win, two top-5s, and those two performances (Scheffler's finishes in 2026).
Yet, the relative struggles coincided with a driver change. That was unexpected considering the consistent level of domination Scheffler has put forth on the course.
At TPC Sawgrass on Tuesday, the Ridgewood, NJ native was asked if he was sticking with the new driver.
“I think when you look at the driver, I think there's always a little thing you can do to improve, but you've got to toe the line, I think, between improving and sticking with the stuff that also works really well. So there's always that kind of fine line in golf,” Scheffler said.
“So when you look at new technology, I think there's stuff that's really good about it. Like with the new driver, I've seen my spin numbers… become more consistent, which is really nice. It's a little bit faster, too. So it's like, okay, if my spins can stay a little closer together and the ball can go a little bit further, in theory it should be more accurate.”
Notice he said ‘should' be more accurate. Last week, Scheffler finished 24th in strokes gained off the tee, at +0.28. Typically, he has ranked much higher.
When pressed for a more direct answer on whether he was switching back, the four-time major winner was a bit more direct.
“That was a really long-winded way of saying no comment. I don't know if you could pick up on that,” he said laughing.
Scheffler will tee off alongside Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas at 8:52 am ET on Thursday.
