Scottie Scheffler - who has finished in the top 12 in every PGA Tour appearance this year - to play alongside Collin Morikawa and Max Homa for the first two rounds at Los Angeles Country Club; watch the US Open live on Thursday from 3pm on Sky Sports Golf
Wednesday 14 June 2023 17:54, UK
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler is considering a switch of putter in a bid to improve his torrid time on the greens ahead of the US Open in Los Angeles.
Scheffler has enjoyed a stellar season on the PGA Tour, successfully defending his WM Phoenix Open title, claiming a dominant victory at The Players and finishing no worse than 12th in each of his last 16 worldwide starts.
The 26-year-old has lived up to his billing as the best player in the world from tee-to-green this season, currently averaging 2.78 strokes gained per round and topping the statistic in several categories, although has failed to produce such dominance on the greens.
Scheffler, who finished runner-up at the PGA Championship last month, sits 148th in strokes gained putting on the PGA Tour this season and has been experimenting with using a different flat stick during this week's major at Los Angeles Country Club.
"I don't ever take decisions on switching equipment lightly," Scheffler said in his pre-tournament press conference. "I think it's strange that I've been struggling the past few weeks with my putter.
"The PGA [Championship] I actually felt like I rolled it pretty good, just a few putts here or there that lipped out that should have gone in.
"Memorial [Tournament] obviously had an off week on the greens or probably would've won that one. I mean, sometimes you just got to bring another putter around there to make the original one scared.
"I've never really been one to try and overthink things, so I try and keep things as simple as possible. I looked at that one that's a little bit bigger and I still am kind of undecided on what I think of it."
Scheffler worked with long-time coach Randy Smith last week to try and find some improvement on the greens, with the six-time PGA Tour winner proud to continue his consistent streak of results in recent months despite not being comfortable with all areas of his game.
"If I'm sitting on the greens and I can hit really good putts it's a lot easier to live with the results," Scheffler added. "I would say the PGA I did a good job of that and at the Colonial [Charles Schwab Challenge] I did a fantastic job of that.
"And then I think Memorial I just had a really off week on the greens there. I'm most proud of what I did mentally there to still somehow give myself a chance to win when I wasn't putting my best.
"I think that's something that I've worked on over the years out here being on [the PGA] Tour, is having that kind of mental edge and I don't know if too seriously is the right word, but sometimes I'd let a few bad swings or bad putts ruin my day. I didn't do that, and I haven't done that in a while.
"I'm very proud of the kind of consistent results that I've put up on the board."
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