Scottie Scheffler Is Threatening to Win Again, This Time at the BMW Championship

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Golfers are never satisfied. It’s simply part of their makeup. A score can seemingly always be lower. The ball can be struck better. More putts can go in. And, of course, there are always the victories that got away.

Certainly, perspective is in order, and it would be quite difficult to classify this year as anything but a success for Scottie Scheffler.

The 2022 Masters champion has won twice, at the WM Phoenix Open and the Players Championship. He’s been ranked No. 1 in the world since the PGA Championship, and has been atop the Sports Illustrated World Golf Rankings for most of the summer. And until a tie for 23rd at the British Open last month, he had not finished outside the top 12 in a tournament all year.

And here he is again.

Scheffler shot a 6-under-par 64 on Saturday at Olympia Fields Country Club the share the third-round lead with Matt Fitzpatrick at the BMW Championship, the second of three FedEx Cup playoff events.

He’s projected to enter next week’s Tour Championship in the No. 1 spot in the FedEx standings.

But first there is a tournament to win, and the BMW is a big one in its own right. The former Western Open dates to 1899 and has a slew of big-name winners on the trophy in its 124-year history. And the fact Scheffler has not won since the Players in March is somewhat annoying, Scheffler said.

“I'm going to look back on my career and I'm going to think I could have nabbed way more tournaments than I'll end up with,’’ Scheffler said after playing his way into Sunday's final group. “It doesn't matter if I won eight times this year or if I won twice or none. There's always more out there.

“You're never fully satisfied with the results. Tiger Woods won I think (82) times, and if you asked him I'm sure he's trying to think about getting No. 83. It's never enough.’’

Scheffler made seven birdies and a bogey Saturday and once again is at the top of the field in the overall strokes gained category. He leads in strokes gain off the tee, to the green and approach to the green.

In simple terms, Scheffler continues to hit the ball so well that it’s no wonder he’s in contention so often.

From the Sentry Tournament of Champions, where he tied for seventh, through the Genesis Scottish Open, where he tied for third, Scheffler finished out of the top-10 just twice.

After a tie for 12th at the Genesis Invitational in February, he tied for fourth at the Arnold Palmer; won the Players; finished fourth at the Match Play; fourth at the Masters; T11 at the RBC Heritage; T5 at the Byron Nelson; T2 at the PGA; T3 at the Charles Schwab: third at the Memorial; third at the U.S. Open; T4 at the Travelers T4 and Scottish T3.

Prior to this week, Scheffler went through a bit of a lull, finishing tied for 23rd at Royal Liverpool and then tied for 31st last week at the FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

That was his worst result since a tie for 45th last fall at the CJ Cup. Scheffler has not missed a cut since the FedEx tournament a year ago, which had a 125-player field.

The fact he has not won more simply boils down to putting. Scheffler’s ranks 146th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting with an average of -.225 per round. That means he loses a quarter of a stroke to the field, on average, per round.

Anecdotally, there have been some key misses that have meant a high finish instead of a victory. But his ball-striking has been so solid that Scheffler seems to be in the mix every week.

“It's definitely been fun.’’ Scheffler said. “I like being in contention. It's why I practice as hard as I do. It's why my whole support system, that's why we work as hard as we do is to be in those positions because it really is fun.

“On the flipside of it, it's very draining, especially with this year. This is now the second year where I've really been in the spotlight a lot, and yeah, I'd say there's definitely challenges to it. There's a lot more energy that gets taken away from the course, and at this point in the year I'm definitely very tired, and I'm looking forward to next week being done, but at the same time I didn't work this hard and for this long to just cash in the last two weeks and not really do my best.

“Just out here to put my best foot forward and just hoping to continue to trend in the right direction.’’

A victory Sunday would be the seventh of Scheffler’s career but it’s not likely to be easy. Fitzpatrick bogeyed the final hole Saturday to drop into a tie for the top spot. British Open champion Brian Harman is one stroke back in third.

Max Homa, the second-round leader who had a three-shot lead on the front nine before a triple-bogey 7 at the seventh hole, shot a 71. He’s in fourth place, two shots back, with Rory McIlroy and Viktor Hovland three behind.

“It’s been a great tournament,’’ Harman said. “Looking forward to tomorrow.’’