Scottie Scheffler remains golf’s top player, but a missed cut, fewer wins and slipping iron play have raised rare questions entering The Open at Birkdale again.
Scottie Scheffler will arrive at The Open Championship as the betting favorite, the world’s No. 1 golfer and the leader of the FedExCup standings.
Yet for the first time in years, Scheffler is also bringing a few hard questions with him.
The 30-year-old missed the cut at the Genesis Scottish Open, ending a remarkable streak that had lasted nearly four years.
Scheffler has also won only once during the 2026 PGA Tour season after collecting six victories a year ago.
For almost any other player, his current campaign would be considered outstanding. By Scheffler’s extraordinary standards, however, something feels slightly different.
He still leads the PGA Tour with a 68.9 scoring average and ranks first in total strokes gained at plus-2.25 per round.
He’s also produced four runner-up finishes while remaining in contention nearly every time he tees it up.
The noticeable change has come with his irons.
Scheffler dominated approach play last season, leading the Tour at plus-1.30 strokes gained per round. That number has dropped to plus-0.60 in 2026, placing him eighth.
That’s still elite. It’s just no longer the massive advantage that repeatedly allowed Scheffler to separate from world-class fields.
His performance in other areas has actually improved. Scheffler ranks fifth around the green at plus-0.47 strokes gained and 12th in putting at plus-0.51. Both numbers are better than his 2025 marks.
But when his normally automatic approach game becomes merely excellent, the margin between Scheffler and the rest of golf’s biggest names gets considerably smaller.
That’s shown up on leaderboards.
Rory McIlroy, Matt Fitzpatrick, Cameron Young and Viktor Hovland have each beaten Scheffler during one of his runner-up finishes this season.
Hovland chased him down at the Travelers Championship, a tournament Scheffler might have controlled comfortably during his dominant 2025 run.
Scheffler has described himself as a little less sharp than he needs to be. In a sport decided by inches, one slightly loose iron shot or one slow Thursday start can quickly turn a victory into another close call.
There have also been more visible flashes of frustration. Scheffler has spent additional time working on his swing after rounds, including extended practice sessions with longtime coach Randy Smith.
That doesn’t mean the world No. 1 is unraveling.
Data Golf estimates Scheffler’s adjusted strokes-gained performance at plus-2.84 this season.
That ranks among the best statistical years recorded since 1983 and exceeds the peak seasons of major champions such as McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Jon Rahm and Jordan Spieth.
Scheffler isn’t playing poorly. He simply isn’t matching the historic standard he established for himself.
That distinction matters entering The Open.
The pressure surrounding the world’s top-ranked golfer can become overwhelming, but Scheffler has always appeared unusually equipped to handle it.
He avoids chasing celebrity, limits outside obligations and rarely allows public expectations to shape his approach.
Now he must deal with something different: the expectation created by his own dominance.
Every missed opportunity looks bigger because Scheffler has made winning appear routine. Every imperfect round invites speculation because golf fans have grown accustomed to watching him overpower the sport.
The Open will offer another test of whether this season represents an actual slide or simply the unavoidable cooling of a historically hot player.
Scheffler remains the man everyone else must beat. The only difference is that beating him suddenly looks possible again.
