One of the main storylines heading into the 2026 season is how many wins Scottie Scheffler will rack up during the PGA Tour campaign.
Over the past couple of years, Scottie Scheffler has emerged as golf’s most dominant figure since Tiger Woods. Since the start of 2022, he’s won four majors and collected 15 victories worldwide since 2024.
While Scheffler doesn’t have quite the same flair as Rory McIlroy, his consistency across every part of his game means that anyone hoping to beat him has to play almost flawless golf. Most can’t keep up.
Smylie Kaufman points to the underrated part of Scottie Scheffler’s game
Scottie Scheffler’s iron play is widely recognised as his biggest asset, but he’s solid across the board. There’s no real weak spot in his game.
Even so, Smylie Kaufman thinks there’s still an area of Scheffler’s game that isn’t getting enough attention. Speaking on The Smylie Show, he highlighted a part of the 29-year-old’s skill set that people might be overlooking.
“What he’s done over the last three seasons, when you just go look at the stats, it’s stupid, absolutely stupid,” he said.
“He’s led in approach three straight seasons – that’s stupid. Off the tee, he’s finished first, second and second the last three years, so he’s almost the best every single year off the tee. He’s been the best iron player.”
Kaufman added: “And I think the scrambling is something that is vastly overlooked with Scottie Scheffler. I thought this was super interesting because this past year in scrambling he was third. 2024, he was fifth and then prior to that year he was 10th. So three years in a row scrambling-wise he’s in top 10.
“So you’re talking about a guy who drives it just as good as anybody; is probably one of – if not – [the] best iron players in golf.”
Scottie Scheffler’s scrambling record stands out in more ways than one
What is intriguing about the best scramblers on the PGA Tour in 2025 is that the top 10 was not filled with marquee names.
Garrick Higgo and Hideki Matsuyama were inside the top 10. Higgo did win an opposite field event, while Matsuyama was victorious at The Sentry.
But it is Matteo Manassero who led the way, while the likes of Takumi Kanaya, Matt Kuchar and Mac Meissner joined Scheffler in the top five. They were not names that were challenging for wins this past year.
It shows just how important getting up and down is to those further down the standings. And perhaps it shows that it is an area of the game that the best players do not worry about quite as much.
But Scheffler clearly sees every area of the game as an opportunity to gain an edge over all of his rivals. It is going to be fascinating to see where he is able to improve in 2026.