AUGUSTA, Ga. — Scottie Scheffler had a memorable Saturday at Augusta National. He eagled the par-5 2nd, made 5 birdies and no bogeys and signed for his lowest-ever Masters spherical, a elegant seven-under 65 that propelled him into competition on this ninetieth enjoying of the match; at day’s finish he was seven beneath for the week, simply 4 again of Rory McIlroy and Cameron Young. It would shock nobody if Scheffler playing cards one other 65 Sunday and slips on his third green jacket in 5 years.
When Scheffler had tended to his post-third-round scoring duties on what was a heat, nonetheless day at Augusta, he met with a small scrum of reporters within the interview pen by the clubhouse.
“That was a 65 today,” a reporter stated. “What did it feel like it could have or should have been?”
As Scheffler processed the inquiry, he scratched his neck and shook his head. Then he dropped the hammer.
“That’s just a terrible question,” he stated. “Next question. Awful.”
It wasn’t a horrible question. Minutes earlier, in an interview with CBS Sports reporter Amanda Balionis, Scheffler himself had stated he had “left a few shots out there.” And he had. For one, for the third straight spherical he’d didn’t birdie both of the back-nine par-5s. Scheffler additionally acknowledged as a lot later within the session with reporters when he stated of his spherical, “it definitely could have been lower.”
But that is this factor with Scheffler. He could be considerate and introspective; he could be enjoyable and goofy; however he additionally could be bracingly direct and even a bit dismissive. If a media member’s question is to not his liking, he’ll say so. At the BMW Championship final 12 months, after months of sharing his opinions concerning the Ryder Cup within the lead-up to the occasion, Scheffler advised a reporter: “I love answering questions about the Ryder Cup, but this is ridiculous. We’re at the BMW Championship.” A few months later, after the third spherical of the Hero World Challenge, Scheffler fielded a question about a couple of free tee photographs he’d hit earlier within the occasion. “So you’re asking me about two drives I’ve hit in the last three days?” Scheffler stated. “Next question. That’s ridiculous.”
And that was earlier than questions and analyses began coming about his decline in kind. When Scheffler, after opening his 2026 season with a win and two top-five finishes, completed — gasp! — outdoors the highest 10 at Riviera and Bay Hill and then opened with a ho-hum 72 on the Players Championship final month, Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said, “I don’t even recognize this golf swing from Scottie Scheffler. It’s a foot and a half shorter than it was last year and the face is wide open.”
Scheffler, you could possibly sense, wasn’t wild concerning the armchair autopsies. When early within the week on the Players a reporter teed up a question to Scheffler with the phrase “this season probably hasn’t gone as well as you would like,” Scheffler known as the question “funny,” and he didn’t imply within the ha-ha sense.
We’re not critiquing Scheffler’s impatience with questions he deems insufficient a lot as merely making word of it. But on Saturday, he was objectively edgy. When requested how he would describe the colour of Augusta’s unusually brown greens, he stated, “Grass.” He added, playfully, “I already ripped on one question that wasn’t that bad, so I’m not going to rip on another one.” Scheffler, it must be famous, is mostly for extra expansive together with his solutions than he’s quick or judgmental. He was at instances unfairly curt on Saturday, however perhaps he was simply drained or irritated that he’d pushed a seven-footer for birdie on 17 or needed to punch out of the left pine straw on 18. When a reporter requested Scheffler whether or not he thought he’d have the ability to play with the identical aggressiveness within the fourth spherical that he had within the third spherical, the world No. 1 supplied nice perception.
“It depends on what the leadership here wants to do,” he stated. “It was crazy firm Thursday afternoon when we were coming in. There were virtually no birdie opportunities. If you look at the scores from late in the day on Thursday, there were not many birdies made in fairly similar conditions. A little less wind, and the greens were fairly soft yesterday, so you saw a lot of scoring late in the day. Then today there was a little bit of opportunity early. You saw my front nine. There was definitely some opportunity going out. Not much wind. Softer greens, but they firmed up a little quicker. It really depends on what they decide to do with the greens.
“If they want to see some lower scores, they can make them softer if they want. I mean, they’re already pretty firm, so they can just go full Bay Hill and just let them die. It’s Augusta. They’ll figure it out.”
Win or lose Sunday, Scheffler will face but extra questions. Here’s hoping his solutions are all as beneficiant and nuanced as that one.
