{"id":455675,"date":"2026-02-08T03:55:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T03:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/455675\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T03:55:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T03:55:08","slug":"back-in-control-scottie-scheffler-believes-special-round-can-lead-to-third-wm-phoenix-open-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/455675\/","title":{"rendered":"Back in control: Scottie Scheffler believes ‘special round’ can lead to third WM Phoenix Open title"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scottie Scheffler faces a five-stroke deficit when he walks back onto TPC Scottsdale Sunday for the final round of the WM Phoenix Open.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s top-ranked player is not worried about chasing Hideki Matsuyama, who stands atop the leaderboard at 13 under, or where he sits on it (T-16). <\/p>\n

Sheffler believes no lead is too large for him to overcome after finding restored confidence after a shaky start to the tournament<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cBarring anything crazy on the back nine, I shouldn\u2019t be out of the tournament,\u201d he told reporters after shooting a 4-under 67 during moving day in the desert. \u201cSomebody would have to do something crazy on the back nine in order to knock me out of the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Matsuyama, a two-time winner at TPC Scottsdale, shot 3-under 68 Saturday \u2014 far from \u201ccrazy\u201d or untouchable.<\/p>\n

Scheffler, who is at 8 under through 54 holes, sees an opportunity to gain momentum early starting on the front nine Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing to need a special round,\u201d he said, adding he never counted himself out of contention despite a 2-over 73 during his first round where he showed visible signs frustration<\/a>. \u201cYou never know what can happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The two-time WM Phoenix Open winner was asked if Thursday was an anomaly, considering he\u2019s recorded just one bogey in the subsequent two rounds.<\/p>\n

Scheffler said he felt comfortable after Friday and Saturday\u2019s performance, comparing his game to where it was just two weeks when he claimed the American Express in his first start of the season.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

From the 2022 WM Phoenix Open to the 2026 American Express, here are all of Scheffler\u2019s Tour wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel in control of the golf club,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel like I am in a really good spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shaking off the struggles from earlier in the week, Scheffler pointed out that he takes pride in being able to stay near the lead even when his game was not up to his high standard.<\/p>\n

He made his 66th straight cut Friday afternoon, thanks to a bogey-free 6-under 65. His last missed cut on Tour was the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I\u2019m most proud of,\u201d he said, \u201cis the consistent results I\u2019ve had over the years.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scottie Scheffler faces a five-stroke deficit when he walks back onto TPC Scottsdale Sunday for the final round…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-455675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}