Scottie Scheffler rides winning momentum into PGA Championship

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said his victory at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson two weeks ago was another sign that his swing has been “coming around” and bodes well as he heads into this week’s PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Country Club.

“I talked a little bit about how I felt like my game was trending, so it was nice to see some results from a lot of hard work to start the year, and I feel like my game is in a good spot,” Scheffler said about his first win of the season. “I think it would be silly to say I can’t ride a little bit of that momentum going into this tournament.”

Scheffler, who won the CJ Cup by eight strokes after shooting rounds of 61, 63, 66 and 63 at TPC Craig Ranch, said Tuesday that he felt his ballstriking at the beginning of the season had been holding him back from returning to the form he showed when he won eight times last season.

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The two-time Masters winner missed the first month of the season while recovering from hand surgery after his hand was punctured by a broken wine glass. Scheffler did not tee it up until the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February and, though he hadn’t been able to secure a win until the Byron Nelson, he has had six top-10 finishes.

“I had put in a lot of hard work in the offseason to make some improvements to my game, and all of a sudden you kind of lose those when you have to go a month without being able to spend time in the gym and being able to do my normal practice,” Scheffler said. “Was it more difficult than I thought? I don’t think so. I think I had pretty fair expectations of myself. I knew it wasn’t going to be super easy.”

Despite the success he has had over the past two years, Scheffler often likes to say that he is best when he stays in the moment and doesn’t think about past results or shots. But even he can acknowledge that, throughout his career, coming off a win has often helped spark runs of success.

“I like to think I don’t ride a lot of the momentum from the missed cuts or poor starts, whatever it is. I feel like I’ve always been pretty decent at bouncing back,” Scheffler said. “When I got my first win in 2022, I won some tournaments pretty quickly after that. So it would be silly to say that I don’t ride some of that momentum.”

As Scheffler has slowly been rounding his way back into form, he has watched as Rory McIlroy is having a season akin to his 2024 run. McIlroy has three wins, including the Players Championship and the Masters, and now has a Grand Slam to his name. After McIlroy was candid about how Scheffler’s success last year motivated him, now it’s Scheffler who finds himself in that position.

“It’s always motivating when you just get beat, and in golf you tend to get beat a lot. You don’t really get to win that many tournaments,” Scheffler said. “He’s definitely improved and made some changes in his game from last year. There’s always little things I’m trying to do to get better, and I think that’s why we keep coming back. Golf is kind of an endless pursuit of getting the best out of yourself, and I’m looking forward to continuing to do that as the year goes on.”

Despite not winning a PGA Championship in five starts, Scheffler has finished inside the top 10 in four of those appearances, including a runner-up finish to Brooks Koepka at Oak Hill in 2023.

A win at Quail Hollow this week would put Scheffler halfway to a Grand Slam, which he said is a goal that he hasn’t yet set for himself.

“I don’t really set those types of goals for myself. I have some dreams and aspirations that I think about, but I’ve always been at my best when I stay in the present,” Scheffler said. “It takes a lifetime of work to be able to even have a chance to win major championships, let alone win all four of them.”