The Open: Scottie Scheffler hits back at putting critics ahead of latest major bid at Royal Liverpool | Golf News

Scottie Scheffler has won twice on the PGA Tour in 2023 but has struggled on the greens in recent months; World No 1 is looking to register a second major title this week at The Open – watch live on Thursday from 6.30am on Sky Sports Golf

Can Scottie Scheffler claim a first major win of the year at The 151st Open this week?

Scottie Scheffler insists his putting performances aren’t as bad as the statistics suggest and believes he is close to seeing an improvement on the greens ahead of The Open.

Scheffler has been remarkably consistent on the PGA Tour in recent months, finishing no worse than 12th in his last 19 starts and on a run of seven consecutive top-fives, although is without a win since his impressive victory at The Players in March.

The world No 1 tops the season-long stats in strokes gained from tee to green but sits 137th in the putting standings, with Scheffler trying to avoid any criticism he gets about his performance on the greens.

Scottie Scheffler is currently averaging 2.81 strokes gained per round from tee-to-green, which would be the second-best ever recorded on the PGA Tour

“I think that most of what has to happen is something has to be created into a story, and for a while, it didn’t really seem like there was much of a story behind the way I play golf,” Scheffler said.

“I think I was viewed as probably a touch boring and didn’t really show much emotion and whatever else you could think of.

“I think I had back-to-back tournaments that I could have won where I putted poorly, and all of a sudden it became this thing where like I’ll watch highlights of my round. Even the announcers, any time you step over the putt it’s like, well, this is the part of the game he struggles with.

“If you say it every time and you guys see me miss a 12-footer it’s like, oh, there it is, he’s struggling again. It’s one of those deals where I don’t pay attention to it. The things that I’m working on right now I feel very excited about. I’m hitting a lot of good putts.

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Rich Beem believes Scottie Scheffler needs to show patience on the greens when challenging for the majors.

“Pretty soon, a lot of those good putts will start falling in the middle of the hole instead of dodging around the side of it. I have a lot of faith in what I’m working on right now, and I’m hoping to see some results soon.”

McIlroy ‘one of the leaders’ for PGA Tour

Scheffler finished joint runner-up to Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship and was third at the US Open behind Wyndham Clark and Rory McIlroy, who could leapfrog him at the top of the world rankings with a strong performance at Royal Liverpool.

McIlroy elected against having a press conference ahead of The Open, just like the previous week prior to his victory at the Genesis Scottish Open, with Scheffler impressed with the Northern Irishman’s performance as the unofficial spokesman for the sport during a turbulent period.

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Rory McIlroy claims he’s focused on forgetting the noise surrounding his return to Hoylake in a bid to claim a first major since 2014 and insists he’s just aiming to enjoy himself at Royal Liverpool.

“I think he [McIlroy] has done a good job,” Scheffler added. “I think you have certain guys that like to be in that position and then other guys that like to avoid that kind of stuff.

“I’m glad that Rory seemed to be one of those guys that enjoyed it and put himself right in kind of the forefront of it. I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily my style. It matters to me, but I also like coming out here and competing and that’s my main focus typically.

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A look at Rory McIlroy’s best shots from his 2014 Open Championship win at this year’s venue, Royal Liverpool.

“Not that focusing on the mergers is a bad thing. We need people to be there, and Rory has done a great job and is kind of one of the leaders for our Tour. There’s a number of other players that have stepped up, as well.

“We’re all trying to do our best to help improve the PGA Tour. It’s just some people I would say would do more of it sitting here versus behind the scenes, and that’s just how people want to go about their business.”

Watch The 151st Open throughout the week exclusively live on Sky Sports. Live coverage of the opening round begins on Thursday from 6.30am on Sky Sports Golf.