Scottie Scheffler has had moments this season that do not look like the world No. 1: a slammed bathroom door at Riviera, a ball thrown across a lake at Bay Hill, and a T24 finish that was his worst of 2024. The media has been quick to call it a slump. Jim Furyk, stepping into a new role as Golf Channel’s lead analyst, is not having any of it.

“It’s nuts,” he said, working alongside announcer Terry Gannon. “He had a bad front nine, didn’t play very well, missed some greens, and missed some putts. It didn’t look good. He was visibly frustrated. And then we went off the air, and I went home, and I watched it on NBC, and he comes out; he birdies five of the next six and does Scottie-like things. We expect so much out of him, almost for him to be superhuman. We were expecting that from Tiger, and that usually tends to weigh down on you. But every great player expects more out of themselves than we expect of them.”

The scoreboard indeed presents a compelling narrative. Scottie Scheffler shot an even-par 72 in Round 1 at TPC Sawgrass. He carded 35 on the front 9, saving 6 pars. He then scored 37 on the back nine with 3 bogeys and was sitting at T40 after day one. Across five tournaments this season, he ranks 88th on Tour in strokes gained, which is the number driving the narrative, but the broader picture reads differently.

He won the American Express to open his 2026 season and then posted a T3, T4, and T12 before slipping to T24 at Bay Hill, his first event this season without a round in the 60s. Against that backdrop, Scheffler’s own assessment of his game makes sense.

At his PLAYERS pre-tournament press conference, he was clear that statistics are not how he measures himself. He said he will only start worrying when standing over a shot feels wrong, and that right now it does not. The #1 has also pushed back on the media’s tournament-by-tournament lens, pointing out that his expectations of himself operate much closer to shot-by-shot. Despite seeing nothing wrong with his game, Scheffler wants to get better. After day 1 at the PLAYERS, he was out on the driving range in the rain, hitting balls.

The Tiger Woods comparison hovering over all of this is precisely the weight Furyk is pointing to. Scheffler has been world No. 1 longer than any other player since Woods. And he is also the first player since Woods to win five or more tournaments in consecutive years. The 29-year-old has always resisted that framing, insisting Tiger Woods stands alone. Scheffler has said he doesn’t take winning seriously, but the frustration of not meeting expectations eventually sets in.

We all remember the incident on Bay Hill when Scheffler chucked his ball in the lake and yelled, ‘This sucks,’ on the 18th after he missed a putt, right? Also, during the opening round of the Genesis Invitational, after a difficult start (5-over through 10 holes) that included missed putts and finding the barranca on the par-5 8th, he was visibly rattled. It was reported that Scheffler slammed a porta-potty door on the 9th hole.

What #1 took from playing alongside Woods at the 2020 Masters, watching him make a 10 on the par-3 12th and then birdie five of his last six holes, was that intensity on every shot is non-negotiable regardless of scoreboard position. That lesson shaped how Scheffler competes, and it is the same mindset Furyk is asking people to consider before writing him off.

Scottie Scheffler’s equipment change has become as much a talking point as his results. He switched from the TaylorMade Qi10 to the newer Qi4D model shortly before Bay Hill, and the timing of that change has not gone unnoticed, given how his performances have played out since.

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Scottie Scheffler opens up about driver adjustment

The challenge he described is a familiar one in professional golf. New technology can bring gains in distance and spin consistency, but switching drivers mid-competition affects timing and feel in ways that do not show up on a spec sheet. Scheffler flagged the speed-versus-control trade-off himself, noting how chasing gains off the tee can quietly erode iron play and distance control.

That is precisely the rhythm he is trying to find right now. He has been clear that he will not rush the process, prioritizing getting the driver to feel natural over forcing results before the equipment is truly dialed in.

The frustration at Bay Hill and Riviera fits that context. The slammed door and the ball thrown across the lake are not signs of someone losing their game. Can he change that in the upcoming rounds and find momentum back at the greens, where he won twice?