“It never goes too far away” – Scottie Scheffler on his decision to switch his putter at the 2022 World Wide Technology Championship

Scottie Scheffler lost his opportunity to reclaim the World No. 1 spot from Rory McIlroy after finishing in a five-way tie for third at the World Wide Technology Championship. The Championships ended on November 6 at the El Camaleon Golf Course in Riviera Maya, Mexico. After failing to make it onto the leaderboard in the initial rounds, he decided to switch to the old putter that he used for tour victories this past season, including the Masters.

His decision worked positively for him, with the change of putter helping him make a strong comeback into the tournament. Entering the tournament as the highest-ranked golfer and potential title contender, Scheffler started off well in the first round but struggled on the greens on Friday and finished 1 under 71. After a disappointing score, Scheffler decided to use his Scotty Cameron Special Select Timeless Tour-type GSS Prototype over the weekend.

He finished the third round posting a score of 4 under 68. In the final round, the World No. 2 made seven birdies and a hole-out eagle to shoot a bogey-free 9 under 62, his lowest final round PGA Tour score to date.

Earlier, Scottie Scheffler's putter had gained interest from fans after he produced victories in Phonix and the Masters. With four wins, Scheffler climbed to No. 1 in the world rankings. However, he benched his Masters winning blade for the Scotty Cameron T5.5 Mallet.

“It never goes too far away,” said Scheffler. “It's probably something I'll continue to fiddle around with, but I went back to something I'm really comfortable with and I putted well the last two days.”

Scheffler looked like his old self as he used his lucky putter only 25 times after he hit 16 of 18 greens, including a hole-out eagle on the par-4 third.

“It looked like it landed close, but we couldn't really see, couldn't really hear anything, nobody was clapping or anything,” said Scheffler. “So when I got up there, I was like, ‘Oh man, it must have spun off the green.’ Then I checked the cup and it was in.”

He jumped past 32 spots after a strong performance in the final round to finish tied for third place, posting a score of 18 under 266, falling short six shots behind the winner, Russell Henley, who ended his winless drought since the 2017 Houston Open.

Scottie Scheffler misses the opportunity to regain the World No. 1 rank

Scottie Scheffler would have had the chance to return to World No. 1 had he finished as the winner or in sole second place. While he wishes to climb back to the top ranks, the thought of it doesn't occupy his mind while he's out on the course.

“Rankings are great; it was definitely fun being No. 1 in the world,” said Scheffler. “It's definitely something I hope to get back to, but it's not something that's going to occupy a lot of my thoughts.”

Scottie Scheffler will next be seen at the Cadence Bank Houston Open, a tournament he nearly won last year for the final event of his 2022 calendar next week.