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Scottie Scheffler Just Did the Unthinkable at the Scottish Open, and Not in a Good Way

Andy Nesbitt|
Scottie Scheffler is going to miss the cut for the first time since 2022.
Scottie Scheffler is going to miss the cut for the first time since 2022. | Warren Little/Getty Images)

Scottie Scheffler’s incredible streak of not missing a cut just came to a stunning end at the Scottish Open as he stumbled to a two-over 72 at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick, Scotland on Friday and sits two shots back of the projected cut line.

What makes this so wild is that the No. 1 player in the world hasn’t missed a cut since the St. Jude Championship in August of 2022. He went 78 straight tournaments of making the weekend and now Scheffler will have the next few days off leading up the British Open, which starts Thursday at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England. He’ll be the defending champion after winning his first Claret Jug at Royal Portrush Golf Club last year.

Scheffler’s second round ended in disaster as he missed a short par putt on the par-3 ninth hole (his 18th hole of the day), which looked a lot like the short birdie putt he missed in the Monday morning playoff at the Travelers Championship two weeks ago.

He needed to make this chip on the final hole to give himself a chance at the weekend, but he was unable to get in the hole and then he wrapped up his week with that ugly missed putt.

Scheffler spoke with the media after the round and talked about how he couldn’t get anything going on the back nine, where he had one birdie, one bogey, and seven pars.

“I got off to a tough start and then on the back nine I didn’t feel like I was hitting it close enough to give myself enough opportunities,” he said. I think that’s what it really comes down to. I got off to a poor start and didn’t really hit it close enough to give myself a bunch of looks and that’s how you shoot over par.

“I was just trying to get some looks. I felt like I struck it better on the back nine. Overall, not quite good enough. Like I said, I felt like I was hitting it too far from the hole and wasn’t holing any of those putts."

What made Friday’s struggles so surprising was that Scheffler opened the tournament with a two-under 68 and was just three shots back of the leaders. He was coming off his second-place finish at the Travelers and seemed ready to be in contention yet again.

He stumbled out of the gates in his second round, however, with bogeys on his second and third holes and finished the front nine with a two-over 37. He was even on the back.

Where Scottie Scheffler’s missed-cut run stacks up with Tiger Woods’s historic mark

While Scheffler’s streak of 78 straight tournaments without a missed cut is wildly impressive, it’s not even close to the record that was set by Tiger Woods, who made the cut in 142 straight tournaments over a seven-year (1998 to 2005) stretch.

Scheffler will now look to regroup, and maybe get in some extra practice rounds at Royal Birkdale before he begins his title defense at the British Open.

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Andy Nesbitt
ANDY NESBITT

Andy Nesbitt is the assistant managing editor of audience engagement at Sports Illustrated. He works closely with the Breaking and Trending News team to shape SI’s daily coverage across all sports. A 20-year veteran of the sports media business, he has worked for Fox Sports, For the Win, The Boston Globe and NBC Sports, having joined SI in February 2023. Nesbitt is a golf fanatic who desperately wants to see the Super Bowl played on a Saturday night.

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