Scottie Scheffler Reminds The World He's Somewhat Human After Struggling Around Pinehurst At U.S. Open

Scottie Scheffler entered the 2024 U.S. Open playing at a consistently great level the golf world hasn't seen since Tiger Woods in the early 2000s. Since his first win of the season at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, Scheffler has since earned four more wins, including a walk-away victory at the Masters.  That earns him the shortest pre-tournament odds heading into the year's third major championship that we've seen in over two decades.

The mind-numbing stats about how great Scheffler has been in 2024 are endless, but one in particular represents the 27-year-old's dominance as a whole: in his eight starts entering U.S. Open week, Scheffler had lost to a total of just nine players, with his worst finish being a T-8 finish at the PGA Championship. The joke about a Louisville police officer being the lone person to keep him out of the winner's circle isn't really a joke at all.

Scottie Scheffler struggled during teh first two rounds of the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2. (Raymond Carlin III-USA TODAY Sports)

If there is one tournament and setting on the season's calendar that could potentially bring Scheffler and his game back to reality, it is the U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, which is exactly what unfolded over the first 36 holes of the tournament.

Scheffler struggled mightily off of the tee during Thursday's opening round, specifically fighting a quick-left miss, which is something we haven't seen out of the two-time major winner all year. He entered the week second on the PGA Tour in strokes gained: off the tee and 10th in driving accuracy. He ranked 129th out of 156 players in strokes gained: off the tee on day one at Pinehurst while hitting just six of 14 fairways.

Despite the struggles on the teebox, Scheffler hung in there to post a score of 1-over, just six shots back of the leaders with 54 holes to play.

Scottie Scheffler could miss his first cut since the 2022 season. (Photo by Tim Heitman/Getty Images)

Scottie Scheffler Fights Pinehurst #2

Friday was a new day, and one where everyone had every reason to believe Scheffler would fall back into his robotic state, move up the leaderboard, and be firmly in the mix heading into the weekend.

Despite hitting 11 of 14 fairways during round two and picking up over 1.5 strokes on the field with his approach game, Scheffler signed for a four-over 74. The putter, which hasn't held him back since switching to a mallet style earlier in the year, did not cooperate on Friday, to put it mildly.

Scheffler lost 3.3 strokes on the greens in the second round, his worst-performing performance in a single round in 2024. With an ice-cold flatstick, Scheffler made zero birdies in round two, the first time he's managed to do so since turning professional.

Five bogeys, one double bogey, and just two birdies thru 36 holes makes life tough in any tournament, including the U.S. Open, and for the first time all season Scheffler will have to sweat out a cutline.

Depending on how the afternoon wave of players performs, Scheffler could miss a cut for the first time since the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship, which was held 669 days and 41 starts ago for the world's No. 1 player.