Scottie Scheffler has dominated men’s professional golf for more than three years, racking up four major titles and an Olympic gold medal.
But apparently the American – widely regarded as the best player since Tiger Woods – still appears to struggle at the Ryder Cup.
Scheffler, 29, arrived at Bethpage Black in New York expected to lead the charge for Keegan Bradley’s United States team.
But he did anything but on Friday, with the golfer and Russell Henley slumping to a heavy 5&3 defeat to Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg and England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick in the opening foursomes session.
It left him with an alarming 1-6 record in the alternate shot format across his three Ryder Cups and two Presidents Cups.
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Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler and Henley lost to a birdie on the opening hole to Aberg and Fitzpatrick, won the second with a birdie to tie the match and then didn’t make another until the 13th. By then it was essentially over.
Captain Bradley decided to pair Scheffler with the reigning US Open champion JJ Spaun in the afternoon fourballs. They faced Spain’s Jon Rahm and Austria’s Sepp Straka.
Again, Scheffler struggled. This time, the margin of defeat was 3&2.
Comments flooded the socials describing him as a “Ryder Cup choke artist”.
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Perhaps that is a touch unfair as this is only his third appearance.
Scottie Scheffler
But unless something changes, Scheffler may look back on his Ryder Cup career in the same vein as the 15-time major champion.
In Woods’ Ryder Cup career, he took part in 37 matches. He won 13, lost 21 and shared a point three times. That’s a total of 14.5 points across eight appearances.
In foursomes, Woods was 4-9-1. In fourball, Woods was 5-10-0. He was much better in singles, winning four times, tying twice and losing twice.
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Overall, that equates to a record of 13-21-3.
Scheffler and Spaun’s defeat to Rahm and Straka in the second session of the 2025 Ryder Cup means the reigning Open champion now has an overall record of 2-4-3.
It’s a record that you simply wouldn’t expect from a player of his calibre.
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