ORLANDO, Fla. — Residing as world No. 1 for nearly three years and fresh off a run of top-10 finishes even Tiger Woods didn’t achieve, Scottie Scheffler is on a roll few golfers have ever experienced.
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Given Scheffler’s dominance, any warts tend to stand out.
Putting woes followed him into a seven-win 2024 season. Slow starts have become a recent theme in 2026.
Since his season-opening win Jan. 25 at the American Express, Scheffler failed to break par to open his subsequent of his three appearances. Each time, he scrambled during the next 54 holes to salvage respectable showings. A tie for 12th two weeks ago at the Genesis Invitational ended a run of 18 straight top-10 finishes — the longest streak by any golfer in the modern era.
But victories are Scheffler’s standard after 20 over the past four years. The 29-year-old sounds ready to contend again entering this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“I’m not too concerned over a very small sample size,” he said Wednesday, on the eve of the 48th annual API. “I’ve always been a guy that’s been really good at staying in the present, doing what I need to do in order to go out and play well. And so at 16 rounds I’ve had 13 that have been really solid and three that haven’t been as good. So I’m still batting at a pretty nice percentage.
“If I wanted to dig deep into it I could completely change how I approach tournaments, but I don’t think that would be very wise.”
Especially now, as he enters the start of the sweet spot in the schedule.
Scheffler has two wins apiece at Orlando’s Bay Hill Club and Lodge, next week’s Players championship at TPC Sawgrass and next month’s Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
A 2022 victory at API was his second on tour and the start of a Woods-like run that often left the world’s best in the dust.
“He hasn’t really dropped off since then,” world No. 2 Rory McIroy said. “It’s 18 top 10s in a row, but it’s been four years of really excellent, consistent golf.”
The right mentality is critical at Bay Hill, annually one of the PGA Tour’s toughest tests. The past nine APIs ended with a scoring average over par-72 at the 7,466-yard layout featuring Velcro-like rough, firm fairways, rock-hard putting surfaces and water in play on 11 of 18 holes.
Scheffler has shown he can handle what the course offers. He won in 2022 at 5-under 283, which tied with 1983 winner Mike Nicolette for the second-highest winning score, behind Tyrrell Hatton’s 284 in 2020.
In 2024, Scheffler cruised to a five-shot win at 15-under par 273 behind a closing 66.
“I always enjoy the harder tests that we see,” he said. “This golf course, with the way the rough is now, how firm the greens are, (it) just gets so challenging. Here in Orlando we typically always get wind.”
Scheffler said the putting surfaces were already baked during Tuesday’s practice rounds. With mid-80s temperatures and little, if any, precipitation expected, Bay Hill is sure to bare its fangs.
But Scheffler rarely blinks.
“You don’t see a weakness, from a physical standpoint, from a mental standpoint,” McIlroy said. “He operates in the present so well, and that’s one of his super strengths.”
Scheffler is looking to become just the second three-time champion of the API. (Woods won eight times).
Winning tournaments tied to the game’s legends carries particular meaning for Scheffler.
Among his 20 tour wins are two APIs, two more at Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament and the 2025 CJ Cup Byron Nelson, where he won by 8 strokes on the outskirts of his native Dallas.
“That one means a ton to me, just growing up in Texas with Mr. Nelson, and that being the tournament that I always dreamed of going out and playing,” Scheffler said. “I grew up going up there watching those guys. I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Nelson a few times and it was very special.”
Another special week at Bay Hill likely will require a solid first round Thursday.
An opening 73 at the WM Phoenix Open left him 10 shots back of the lead, the same deficit he faced after a first-round 72 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Each time he fought his way back into contention but ran out of holes.
A 74 at the Genesis and eight-shot deficit were too much to overcome at Riviera Country Club.
Scheffler’s first-round scoring average of 70.5 is 117th, after he led the PGA Tour in scoring in all four rounds in 2025.
On Wednesday he joked that after Riviera, “I just went home and completely rebuilt (his swing), reinvented the wheel in six days.”
At Bay Hill, he doesn’t plan to change a thing. The approach hasn’t always been perfect, but the results have been the gold standard.
“I’m pretty much a routine guy,” he said. “I think getting out of my routine would throw me off a little bit.”