Scottie Scheffler's troubles with the putter is perhaps golf's worst-kept secret... The World No. 1 has been far and away the best ball striker for some time, but is fast approaching a year without a PGA Tour win in large part due to his struggles on the greens.
Ranking first in strokes gained tee-to-green and approaching the green, the American was a mindboggling 144th when it came to strokes gained putting heading into this week's Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Scheffler had appeared reticent to make changes but, at last, pulled the trigger, debuting a mallet putter, a move suggested by Rory McIlroy last week.
The first round still looked worrisome, with Scheffler losing over 1.5 strokes on the greens relative to the field, but his second round looked much improved, notching up five birdies, one eagle and a respectable 0.5 strokes gained on the greens.
His five-under-par 67 at Bay Hill catapulted the 27-year-old into a share of the lead at the halfway stage and the American was clearly pleased to see his hard work pay off.
"I'm proud of, the last couple days, getting off to poor starts, missing short putts on No. 11 today and yesterday, and kind of sticking to my process and doing a really good job of not letting things bother me," he said after his second round.
"That's kind of been my main goal this week, not trying to be perfect, just go out there and hit solid putts and see what happens."
McIlroy, meanwhile, arrived at Bay Hill after a distressing week of play with the flat stick at the Cognizant Classic where he finished T21. His putting woes followed him into the first round at the Arnold Palmer, where he lost more than three strokes on the greens.
However, an hour well spent on the practice green after Thursday's play with putting coach Brad Faxon seems to have done the trick for the Northern Irishman, who led the field in strokes gained putting on Friday (3.157).
Per Justin Ray, it was the first time that the four-time Major champion had gained more than three strokes on the greens since last summer at the Travelers Championship, with the 34-year-old detailing his Thursday practice that led to the resurgent second-round display.
"I felt my speed was just a bit off more than anything. The greens look faster than they are, so just trying to be a little more assertive with my speeds," he began.
"Sometimes because it is so much easier to start the mallet on line, you get a little lazy. So, I brought the blade out last night just to hit a few putts to sort of get a feel of what I need to do to get the ball to start on line with a real putter."
Rory McIlroy made less than 17 feet of putts on his back nine Thursday.He spent nearly an hour on the greens after his round working on his putting. pic.twitter.com/ucIIlXvJguMarch 8, 2024
McIlroy continued: "Sometimes I can let the putter rise up a little bit too much on the way through, and then I can catch the ball sort of more on the equator, rather than like more of a level.
"When I strike a good putt, it almost feels like the ball comes out of the top of the face instead of the middle of the face. So, yeah, focused a little bit on strike, a little bit on just that sort of transition. Yeah, felt better."
Heading into the weekend, McIlroy will still require a monumental effort to get into contention, currently lying six shots back of the lead on -1. Scheffler, meanwhile, gets underway alongside Wyndham Clark as he looks to break free from a crowded share of the lead that also includes Shane Lowry, Hideki Matsuyama, Russell Henley and Brian Harman.
