Winning any professional golf tournament is no simple task, whether it’s on the PGA or DP World Tour, LIV Golf, or even a third-tier circuit like the Alps or Clutch. So to suggest that anything other than victory would be akin to disaster for Scottie Scheffler at this week’s 3M Open is putting the world number one in an unfair position.
He is one of just 30 players of the 144 teeing it up at TPC Twin Cities to have played in last week’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, and of those 30, 15 were able to make their way back across the pond after 36 holes.
Of course, as the third-ranked player on the PGA Tour all-time money list – and more than likely number one by the year’s end – he’ll hardly be travelling in the middle seat in economy class, but even still, it takes its toll.
The counterargument is that he’s the best player in the game, rarely turns up and doesn’t put himself in contention, and he’s competing in the weakest PGA Tour event he’s faced in some time. For context, Hideki Matsuyama, at 30th in the OWGR, is the only other player inside the top 30 in this week’s field, and Tom Kim and Gary Woodland are the only other players with a PGA Tour win to their name in 2026.
So, even with his transatlantic travel, Scheffler should be on another level. And as odd as it is to say it about the top-ranked player in the world, he could do with proving it.
His only win in 2026 thus far remains the American Express Championship in Palm Springs in his season-opening event, and since winning is a habit, it’s a habit that you can grow out of much easier than you can grow into.
This time last year, against the same quality of field, he’d have been close to odds-on and you may even have been tempted to have a large bet on him, but fast-forward 12 months and you can get him at 3/1.
But when his nearest challengers in the bookmakers’ markets are Maverick McNealy and Kurt Kitayama, both ranked 28/1 shots, it only serves to highlight just how big the gulf between him and the rest of the field really is.
He doesn’t need a win for his bank balance, or for his FedEx Cup ranking where he’s back at number one, but he needs it for his own self-confidence and belief that, despite failing to add to his major championship tally this year, he’s still the alpha dog on the PGA Tour.
But if he’s in contention and comes up short again, then even a man of faith such as he will begin to have his doubts.
His addition to the field may have raised some eyebrows, but the week has taken on an importance that he could scarcely have foreseen when he made the commitment a few months earlier.
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