Scottie Scheffler came into Bay Hill looking to bring back his old form. He had won the title last year in dominating fashion, with a 5-stroke lead over second-placed Wyndham Clark. But the rust from his recent injury seemingly never left the 13-time PGA Tour winner. The fight was there from Scheffler. But, the result? Not so much.

The World No.1 scored a modest 4 under par during four rounds of play at the Arnold Palmer Invitational to finish T11. He is getting closer to his first win of the season. However, he would need to improve his game on the greens if he were to do so.

In Strokes Gained by Putting, Scheffler was ranked 49 in the field as he lost nearly 5.328 strokes because of his not-so-impressive work on the greens. Despite making a remarkable 51 pars across the 72 holes, what let him down were the bogeys for which he was T4 amongst the field.

Scheffler understood that, stating, “I didn’t hole too many putts, it was really challenging out there on these greens. I mean, putting on a surface that’s practically dead, the ball can have a life of its own. I’m proud of hitting a lot of good putts, just wasn’t my week on the greens.”

Since his return from injury, Scheffler has played in four tournaments, making the top 25 in all four of them. This includes a brilliant T3 finish at the Genesis Invitational. That means that his expertise is there. He just needs to tap into it a bit more to convert this into wins.

He stated, “Yeah, I mean, like I said, I did some good things this week. I definitely did some things I feel like I can improve on, but yeah, overall I feel pretty good.”

While Scheffler’s putting and approach shots were questionable, his drive became the silver lining at Bay Hill. In Strokes Gained Off the Tee, Scheffler was ranked No.1 in the field with a score of 6.516. His driving accuracy was also mighty impressive as he was T4 with a 69.64% accuracy. Right now, his driving is one of the few things allowing him to compete at a high level.

“Yeah, I didn’t drive it very well the first few weeks coming out, so to have a good week off the tee was definitely nice. I could be definitely a little sharper with the irons, a little sharper on the greens, but overall I felt like I did a lot of good stuff,” said Scottie.

Scheffler will look to work on his short game over the next month and keep it ready just in time for the Masters at the Augusta National Golf Course. But before that, he has a chance at history.

What’s next for Scottie Scheffler?

His first challenge after the Arnold Palmer Invitational will be the coveted major-adjacent Players Championship. Scheffler goes into the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course with one clear advantage. No one has won there other than him over the last two editions. He will look to make it three titles in a row at Florida. However, he would need to work hard to improve his short game.

If he wins the tournament, Scheffler will tie with the great Jack Nicklaus, who has won three times at the Players Championship. The two-time major winner will also be the first to win the title three times in a row. That is, however, the furthest thing from the World No.1’s mind. For Scheffler, those victories are a thing of the past, and he focuses on the situation now.

“Yeah, well, I’m not going to be thinking about that too much next week, just go in there with the right mindset. We’ll head up there tonight and hopefully get some practice in tomorrow when the rain stops, and then get ready for the week.” Scheffler stated.

Do you think Scottie Scheffler could win the Players Championship this season to make it a hat-trick of titles? Or do you think his game is still a long way from reaching the peak performance he achieved during the last two seasons?