Scottie Scheffler Makes Unwanted Career Record at U.S. Open Amid Visible Struggles

The 2026 U.S. Open is an integral one for Scottie Scheffler. He entered the field as a clear favorite to complete his career grand slam on his 30th birthday, but this difficult major keeps revealing a very specific flaw in an otherwise great game.

Golf writer Bob Harig shared an interesting fact on X after Scheffler posted 2 over on Thursday at Shinnecock. He noted that Scheffler now has 10 straight U.S. Open rounds where he failed to break par. His streak started in the final round of the U.S. Open 2023 at LACC.

His US Open record shows how consistently this tournament has resisted him. After finishing runner-up in 2022 and third in 2023, he went T-41 at Pinehurst in 2024 with rounds of 71-74-71-72 and T-7 at Oakmont in 2025 with 73-71-70-70. The last time he broke par at this event was a round in 2023 at LACC. Everything since then, nine rounds before this week and now a tenth, has been at par or worse.

Hard to believe: Scottie Scheffler now with 10 straight U.S. Open rounds where he failed to break par going back to final round in 2023 at LACC.

— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) June 19, 2026

Round 1 this year was surprising for Scottie Scheffler. He carded a double bogey on hole 8 and a bogey on holes 4 and 6 before making four birdies on the back nine. Then he also carded more bogeys on holes 13 and 15 and a double on 16. He finished T43 after the first 18 holes, and speaking after the round, Scheffler did not hide how difficult the day was.

“Today, it felt like a day where a lot of good shots were going to get punished, is what it felt like. You had to be hitting a great shot if you wanted to avoid a punishment. I think good would put you in some tough spots,” he said. “If you told me when I was staring at my par putt on nine (when I was 3 over) that I would post 2 over today, I would definitely have taken it at the time. Overall, it was a good battle. Get some rest, and we’ll see how the course changes over the next day.”

Scheffler leads the PGA Tour in Greens in Regulation at 71.99% but ranks 128th in Proximity to Hole at 38 feet, 8 inches. He is hitting greens, just not the right parts of them. At a U.S. Open, where birdie chances are scarce to begin with (even Wyndham Clark called it a putting nightmare), starting from 38 feet away on a fast, firm surface is almost the same as missing the green entirely.

Other than this, Scheffler has had a decent 2026 season. He won the American Express, finished second at the Masters, second at the Cadillac Championship, and was runner-up at the RBC Heritage. He has not finished outside the top 24 so far.

Despite a not-so-great start, not everyone is ready to write Scheffler off just yet.

Can Scottie Scheffler still turn this around?

Rich Lerner on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav noted it simply.

“It’s not the eight shots that I’m interested in. It’s the number of players between him and the lead that interests me more at this point. But we’re not one-fourth of the way to the ending yet, so I don’t think my level of concern would allow me to say no; I think Scottie Scheffler is out of this. I still think that he can flip a switch; whatever it is, he and Randy Smith are working on it.”

Scheffler has done this before, shown up to the range visibly frustrated, worked through something, and then came out the next morning looking entirely different. Sure, it hasn’t happened that much this season, but Lerner still has belief that Scheffler can turn things around.

“And I still believe that there is a switch to be flipped when it comes to Scottie Scheffler,” he said.

The US Open is not exposing a player in bad form. It is exposing a very specific gap. He is yet to win the US Open, and as he put it himself before this week, he has never chased the Grand Slam as a goal. But right now, the US Open is very much chasing him.

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