CBS
Ostensibly, the highlight of Sunday’s broadcast at the Charles Schwab Challenge was Emiliano Grillo’s golf ball floating, in slow motion and in the wrong direction, along a shallow stream containing a cement pit. It was a metaphor for the double step he took to the 18th tee, which was taking a clear turn for the worse. It was also an absurd – and hilarious – end to a major golf tournament. CBS was there, largely tracking the float in real time. It was phenomenal.
But I caught a broadcast moment a short time ago, a moment CBS threw at Amanda Renner, who was sitting with Scottie Scheffler in their broadcast tent. I thought the ensuing interview pointed out three interesting things about the golf we watch—one about CBS and two about Scotty.
1. Amanda Renner’s role expanded.
each of us Hot Mike CBS reporter James Colgan introduced the group last year, giving Renner more on-air time beyond short post-tour interviews. In recent weeks we’ve seen her bring in big names, including then world number one John Ramm, to help call the action. It’s been great every time. They also represented a movement to have different types of analysis in real time; This is the same out-of-the-box thinking that resulted in the midfield player’s career and talk.
This Scheffler interview stood out not because of her first two questions – which covered Scheffler’s award finalist in eighth place – but because of her third question. I mentioned Scheffler’s off-the-charts numbers in strokes earned from the tee to the green before getting to the harder question:
What causes you so many problems on these greens?
Scheffler didn’t seem offended by the question. He wasn’t defensive. Instead, he let us peek into his mind, an area that usually remains locked and key.
“You know,” he said, “it looks like the hole looks small.” (Yes, that counts as an admission of weakness. The cap is not set.) “Yeah, that’s pretty much it.”
But this was not the case. Scheffler may be the best golfer in the world, but he’s still a golfer, which means that if you invite him over to talk about a golf-related topic that’s weighing on him, he’s physiologically unable to avoid it.
“I feel comfortable on the ball,” he continued. “I feel like in the Masters this year I didn’t feel comfortable with my shots. And I really struggled that week the first two days. The things I’m working on, I feel a lot of progress. Last week was definitely a lot of progress and this week I feel like I hit a lot of good shots. I’m definitely improving from 10 feet deep, which was an area of focus for me. I can’t explain it. It was a little frustrating this week, because I felt like I had good putts. They just didn’t fall in. The hole was kind of dodgy. I felt like I I was laying toward a moving cup. But I like what I was working on and I started to feel the ball coming off the blade, and — yeah.”
The question was compelling because of the answer it gave. But she was also compelling because of what she stood for. We’re used to the real-time analysis from the broadcast team and we’re used to the post-round debriefing from the players to the on-site reporters. But post-tour TV interviews are usually limited to the smaller-picture stuff. Likes, Tell me about your bird at ten. or What will this tournament do for you moving forward? I’m not suggesting that Renner doesn’t usually ask tough questions – in the right circumstances, she did! – but her role had not been asked of her before. Scotty Scheffler’s shot versus throw was among the most pressing questions in the game and was well worth exploring. TV viewers learned something interesting as a result.
Which brings us to #2…
2. Scottie Scheffler hits a heck out of the ball.
It’s a lot of luck making a hole-in-one, but on Sunday Scheffler’s character felt like she deserved it. He hit the ball so much better (and with more accuracy) than anyone else on the field that it made sense that one of his dart would find the bullseye.
As the field averaged 3.16 strikeouts on that 3’8, Scheffler had 2.16 catches with one swing. It was part of a week-long effort in which he had a 15.01 hit from tee to green, meaning he was 15 shots better than average field before getting a putter in his hand.
How good is it to get a 15 tee shot to the green? It’s only happened three times this season – and Scheffler has been making the gains each time. His wild win at the Players Championship was marked by an impressive 17.17 putts from tee to green, while he finished second in last week’s PGA Championship with a 15.29. (You can see more details in the tweet below.)
Additional hitting analysis from golf data expert Andy Luck reveals unprecedented redness.
Scheffler’s numbers for the entire season are ridiculous. He is the first in total hits earned. He is the first to hit the ball from the tee to the green. He was the first to the tee in strokes, somehow ranking in the top 25 in both driving distance and driving accuracy. He is second in strokes gained approaching the green, four thousand strokes behind sizzling Colin Morikawa’s iron (1.075 to 1.071). He is 11th in hits earned around the green, making him the only player among the world’s top 10 players in the top 20 in that category. It’s incredibly historical.
until it gets green.
So how bad is Scheffler’s situation, anyway?
3. Scheffler’s posture problems aren’t as bad as you think.
It’s all connected. Compared to the rest of the other world at his game, Scheffler’s throwing is no Bueno. Compared to last year’s betting season, it’s a disappointment. But compared to the PGA Tour in general? It’s just average. And when you look at Scheffler’s first two years in the Tour, that’s remarkably close to his baseline.
Let’s be more specific. This season Scheffler is losing 0.066 hits on the greens, a number that puts him 114th out of 198 players. He loses three-quarters shot per round to other top 10 players like Max Homa (+.741 SG: Putting), Jon Rahm (+681) or Xander Schauffele (+.608), but only seven hundredths in favor of the pro tour average .
Last year, Scheffler’s numbers were even better. He finished 58th in strikeouts earned, and had an average of 202 hits during his Player of the Year-caliber season. (He was only thirty-seventh in hits earned from the tee, fourth on the tee to the green.)
But if you look at the 2020-21 season (107, -023) or 2019-20 (117, -053) Scheffler’s numbers are nearly identical to this year’s.
So why the overemphasis on the struggle situation? There is our human tendency to focus more on the negative than the positive, for one thing. (Sorry about that, Scotty.) But there’s also the simple fact that he spent a lot of time on our TV screens, which meant we were extra exposed to the best and worst of golf.
However, it doesn’t feel like he gets into a train crash every week. Scheffler has played 12 events in 2023. According to DataGolf, he has lost more than 0.1 strokes per round in only two of those events. But both were pretty rough – one at the Masters (-1.00) and the other at Charles Schwab this week (-1.05). But either way, he pulled it off so well that he still finished in the top 10, which meant we got a front row seat for the mistakes he made.
One interesting wrinkle is that Scheffler wasn’t putting on much at all. He’s scored just three 11 times in 1,008 holes this season, the third-lowest percentage on the tour. His “close shots” finished 1 foot 11 inches from the cup, finishing second in the round. He just doesn’t make much. His status does not prevent him from competing. It just doesn’t help him cross the line.
To this point, he’s finished inside the top 12 in every one of his 12 matches this year, including his win at the WM Phoenix Open where he had a 1.09 stroke on the greens. This brings us back to the interview, and Scheffler’s one and only moment an act Get a little defensive. This came when he was asked about patience with his game getting back into shape.
“I think ‘getting the game back in shape’ is kind of a stretch,” he said, to which Renner jumped in to make it clear he only meant to put him down. everything is OK. Scheffler said he’s trying to stay on track.
“My philosophy has always been to stick with something and see it through, and sometimes I feel like I’ve bounced around a little bit with different things. I’ve really been working on my prep for probably the last year, maybe over a year and a half, and I’ve seen some really good results. It’s Something where I’ll continue to see more consistent results as I improve. I’ve had a few weeks off with the putter but still gave myself opportunities to win golf tournaments, which is definitely a great confidence boost going forward.”
Scheffler hopes the crater will start to appear larger. until that time?
I would recommend more holes in one.