Scottie Scheffler enters the 2026 PGA Championship as world No. 1, defending champion and still chasing another win after three straight runner-up finishes.
Scottie Scheffler arrives at the 2026 PGA Championship with the resume, the ranking and the form to win again.
He’s still world No. 1. He’s still the defending PGA Championship winner. And statistically, he’s actually started this season even better than he did a year ago.
But this time, the chase feels different.
Scheffler has played nine PGA Tour events this season, winning once and finishing in the top five six times. Through the same point last year, he had one win and four top-five finishes.
The numbers say he’s rolling. The leaderboard says the rest of golf’s elite isn’t backing down.
Rory McIlroy got him at the Masters. Matt Fitzpatrick held him off at the RBC Heritage. Cameron Young beat him at the Cadillac Championship.
Those three results made Scheffler the first player in PGA Tour history to post three consecutive solo runner-up finishes.
That’s an odd piece of history for a player who has made winning look so routine since 2022. Scheffler admitted the streak is a little frustrating, especially because a player good enough to finish second three weeks in a row usually finds a way to close one of them.
Still, he also understands that second place means the game is close. There’s a lot less to fix when you’re chasing trophies than when you’re buried in the pack.
The biggest issue has been the starts. Scheffler’s scoring average this season is 69.37, best on the PGA Tour. He ranks first in third-round scoring and first in final-round scoring at 67.22.
He’s also seventh in second-round scoring at 68.33. The problem? His first-round average is 70.33, ranking just 77th.
That has forced him to play catch-up against players who are too good to keep handing a head start.
At Aronimink Golf Club, that margin could matter. The PGA Championship demands power, precision and patience, and Scheffler still checks every box.
His game remains one of the most complete in golf, and his motivation hasn’t changed. He isn’t driven by McIlroy, Fitzpatrick or Young. He’s driven by the process, the daily work and the puzzle of getting better.
That’s what makes Scheffler so dangerous this week. He doesn’t need a reset. He doesn’t need a new identity. He just needs one cleaner on Thursday.
And if that happens, the defending champion may stop finishing second and start collecting major trophies again.
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