Internal fire driving Scottie Scheffler at PGA Championship despite recent, bittersweet runner-up streak

Scheffler has taken punches from many over these last five years, yet still he stands firmly as the world No. 1

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. -- Scottie Scheffler stormed the gates at the start of the 2026 season, appearing primed to siege the collective golf city. All the riches and treasures were within sight as he won in his first start of the year for the first time in his career amid a stretch that rivals those of the game's all-time greats.

Given what he has accomplished every year since 2022, it seemed as if 2026 might somehow surpass all those individual campaigns.

The jury is still out as to whether this year can be the year, tough, as Scheffler enters the 2026 PGA Championship. Twelve months ago, he had played in nine tournaments, won once and collected four top-five finishes. This year, he has played in nine tournaments, won once and collected six top-five finishes. 

The world No. 1 is on course for a similar summer, but the difference this time around seems to be who is challenging his throne: Rory McIlroy at the Masters, Matt Fitzpatrick at the RBC Heritage, Cameron Young at the Cadillac Championship. Scheffler fell to all of them and became the first player in PGA Tour history to finish solo runner-up in three straight tournaments.

"I think it was last week my wife was like, 'Hey, Scottie, you're like the first guy in PGA Tour history to have three solo runner-ups in a row.' I'm like, 'Yeah, it's probably because the guy that was playing that good figured out a way to win one of those; he didn't come second in all three.' A little bit of it is bittersweet," Scheffler said. "Finishing second in a golf tournament is not bad … especially in the way I did it in a couple of them. 

"I was spotting guys so many strokes going into the weekend, mainly the Masters. Didn't have a very good chance going into the weekend there. Hilton Head, didn't have a very good chance going into the weekend there. Cadillac, I finished solo second, but really didn't really have that good of a chance. So, just different things. Overall, yeah, I'd say a little bit bittersweet. You know you're playing good golf, and you'd love to get some wins. Finishing second hurts, but I think when you reflect and you're looking at things to work on, there's a lot less to clean up when you're finishing second than there is when you're finishing 30th."

Scottie Scheffler: 2026 scoring average by round

Round 1

70.33

77th

Round 2

68.33

7th

Round 3

67.22

1st

Round 4

67.22

1st

Don't think -- just because Fitzpatrick leads the PGA Tour with wins (three), Young has the biggest whales (The Players Championship and Cadillac Championship) on the PGA Tour calendar and McIlroy has the Masters (again) -- that Scheffler sees things differently.

He's neither driven by who he is playing against nor what he is playing to achieve. Rather, it is the how that ultimately motivates the four-time major champion.

"When I look over the course of my life, my sources of motivation have always been internal," Scheffler said. "I talk about my parents not pushing me to be this great golfer. Like Randy [Smith] has taught me my whole life, but he's never said, 'Hey, you're going to go out, you're going to win these tournaments, you're going to do this.' It's like, 'Hey, let's do what we can to do in order to get better.' I've always loved that part of the journey. 

"For me, getting better at golf is such an interesting and fun thing to try to accomplish. You're always toeing the line between getting better and getting worse. When I can go out by myself and practice and have something that I want to work on and improve on, that's one of my favorite things. I love trying to figure things out. That's always been what's driven me. 

"I also love competition. I don't like losing. But at the end of the day, I think the preparation, getting ready to come out here and play, is something that I really enjoy. I don't really think about much else other than that when I'm at home practicing. I'm not thinking about something that somebody else is really good at. I'm seeing how something that I'm doing and how I can get better at that. I don't really look for a lot of sources of outside motivation."

Scheffler enters this week's PGA Championship still the world No. 1, still the reigning champion and still the most well-rounded player in the game. That has largely been the same these last five years (it's already been five years?!).

Some (not all) of those throwing punches at him have changed during this time. But Scheffler has not -- not the who, not the what and certainly not the how.