Scottie Scheffler made history at the Masters this year despite falling one shot short against Rory McIlroy for the big win. He succeeded in navigating 36 consecutive holes without dropping a single bogey. If he had put on a similar performance in the first couple of rounds, the outcome might have been a lot different, and that pushed Scheffler to complain one thing about the course. 

During a quick chat with the media following the event, Scheffler said, “I’m not in charge of course setup. I would have liked it to have been a little bit more equal in terms of the firmness on Thursday and Friday. I was a bit surprised at how soft things were on Friday afternoon, especially as it got late in the day.”

At Augusta, the firmness of the greens dictates everything. A firm green demands absolute perfection on approach shots, while softer greens allow players to attack pins aggressively. For Scheffler, the changing conditions played a major role in his early struggles. He struggled a lot through Thursday, but when he decided to take advantage of the conditions on Friday, the grass went even softer. But he couldn’t blame it all on the greenkeepers even though he seemed pretty frustrated. 

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He continued, “But the weather also changes and it was a bit windy on Thursday, so who knows. That’s part of the game. We play an outdoor sport and you don’t know how conditions are going to change, especially course conditions.” 

The reality of his Friday tee time clearly stung. Going out early while the course was playing tough meant he couldn’t generate the momentum needed to keep pace with a surging Rory McIlroy.

“Overall, like I said, Friday for me going out early not being able to shoot an under-par round definitely hurt my chances. I think I started the weekend maybe 12 back, so to get within one was a pretty good run.”

Certainly, referring to a 12-shot comeback at Augusta as a ‘pretty good run’ could be considered a significant understatement. But major championships are 72-hole marathons. Even if a golfer performs exceptionally well through 36 holes, like Scottie Scheffler did, the winner is decided by the entirety of the 72 holes. 

But it’s not something that Scheffler had to face only at the Masters. Since the beginning of the season, he has been struggling to ace the first two rounds (except for his stance at the American Express, his only win in 2026). His first two rounds at the WM Phoenix Open, AT&T Pebble Beach, The Genesis Invitational, THE PLAYERS Championship, and now at the Masters, went beyond 70. And that weakened his sub-68 performance in the final rounds. 

Nevertheless, Scheffler doesn’t seem to have much regret over the unfortunate loss. 

Scottie Scheffler opens up on the near miss at his third Masters title

Looking back at the end of the final round, he believed he could have made a difference. But fate seemed to be on McIlroy’s side. Scheffler believed that he birdied Nandina (par-4 17th) but had to settle for an even par. The final hole, Holly (par-4 18th), had a similar story, but he hit the shot exactly how he wanted. But the wind interfered, and the ball went to the edge and went back down. But he isn’t one to stay focused on the loss. 

Scheffler said, “I always talk about how I try to be focused on controlling the things that I can control and yesterday and today was some of the best that I’ve felt like I’ve been mentally all year. Like my shot into 18, I hit it how I wanted to, we just lost the wind and it came up a little bit short.”

He continued, “Overall I’m not going to hold too many regrets, but yeah, definitely a bit disappointed now. But, like I said, I started the weekend with 12 shots back and ended up with only one. If I am going to blame anything, I should probably blame the first two rounds before I start looking at stuff from the last couple.”

Well, we can certainly expect a change in his early rounds for the rest of the season. For now, he’s focusing on the coming week for the RBC Heritage.