After the Masters bid was reached, Scottie Scheffler aired Augusta’s frustrations
Scottie Scheffler thought he did. World No. 1 had just sent Augusta National roaring with late Sunday birdies on the 15th and 16th and had a putt drop on the 17th to cut Rory McIlroy’s lead to one.
He hit it where he wanted and at the right speed. He watched it roll. The ball dripped into the cup and seemed destined to light the fuse for the Augusta explosion. Then? It moved to the left and stopped on the lip of the cup. Scheffler stood, hands on his hips, staring at Augusta National’s baked green, the strongest in the area, and then at the sky.
When the final scores were tallied at the 2026 Masters, Scheffler lost to McIlroy by one shot. That could have come anywhere over 72 holes, but the four-time major league winner’s denied putt on 17 stood out as McIlroy celebrated his historic repeat victory.
“The putt on 17 I thought I made,” Scheffler said.
But that’s not where Scottie Scheffler lost the Masters. That happened earlier in the week, and his frustration is how this loss happened this lesson over 72 holes it was seen as he was preparing to leave Augusta National with a sour taste in his mouth due to a factor that was out of his control.
Scheffler teed off Thursday afternoon and survived tough, fast conditions to post a two-under 70, putting him three shots back of McIlroy and Sam Burns after 18 holes. Scheffler assumed the club would keep the conditions the same for the second round, meaning the leaders, who came out early Thursday, would face the same conditions as they did in the opening round on Friday afternoon.
But what he got on Friday was different. The team watered the greens to keep them humble, meaning Scheffler and those in the same category saw Augusta when others didn’t.
“I’m not in charge of course planning,” Scheffler said after finishing in second place. “I would have liked it to be a little more equal in terms of intensity on Thursday and Friday, I was surprised how soft things were on Friday afternoon, especially as it was getting dark.
“But the weather also changes and it was a little windy on Thursday, so who knows. That’s part of the game. We’re playing an outdoor game and you never know how the conditions are going to change, especially the course conditions.”
Scheffler knows that the 74 he shot in soft conditions on Friday cost him his chances. That left him 12 shots behind McIlroy entering the weekend and, in the end, that was too much ground to make up. Mistakes he made in familiar conditions on Friday, including water balls on both par-5s on the back nine, left him with an uphill climb. That is up to him and his ability to accomplish that day. But he also saw that those who played early/late should not play in the course he was doing in one of the rounds.
“I would say Friday probably hurt me the most in terms of my chances of winning,” Scheffler said. “We went out on Thursday afternoon and it was one of the most difficult conditions we had all week.
“And then you saw a bunch of birdies that Rory and Cam Young made and a bunch of guys made late Friday night, and I think I finished with maybe two pars on Friday.
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Back at Pebble Beach in February, McIrloy described Scheffler as “unstoppable.” That week Scheffler nearly erased the deficit on the big weekend en route to a T4 finish.
At Augusta, Scheffler’s dominant trait was on display again over the weekend. As of Saturday, 12 shots behind McIlroy, the World No. When Scheffler opened the final round with birdies on 1st and 3rd, the lead was within reach. But on a hot day at Augusta National, Scheffler’s momentum stalled as he made 10 straight pars from 4 through 14.
“Holes 4 through 7 are really challenging today in the wind,” Scheffler said. “I didn’t get to take advantage of 8. Hit 9 good shots. Then 10, 11, 12 aren’t birdie holes. Those are the holes where if you make the same you don’t feel too bad. Obviously if you’re in a rush you’d like to sneak one in and give myself a chance.”
Scheffler’s par streak included a frustrating 5 on the par-5 13th that saw him spend valuable time standing while his playing partner, Haotong LI, damaged the hole en route to a quintuple bogey. He missed a makeable birdie putt on 13 and then Scheffler shot the gettable par-4 14th left into the trees, meaning he had to punch out and play for par. He snapped his par streak with a world-class birdie at the par-5 15th where he drove it in and hit a branch at the second before barreling through the trees to send a stunning wave into Augusta’s sanctuary.
A birdie at 16 got Scheffler between the two McIlroys but when his birdie at 17 teetered from the hole, he needed a birdie at the end and help from his third green jacket. Scheffler found the fairway on the 18th but his shot hit the green and set up for the closing par.
Scheffler knows he was holding the third green jacket. It was there. But the number of things that have to go over 72 holes to win a major is incalculable. You need everything to line up.
“Overall I won’t have a lot of regrets, but yeah, I’m a little disappointed now,” Scheffler said. “But like I said, I started the weekend getting shot 12 times and ended up with one rebound. If I’m going to blame anything, I have to blame the first two rounds before I start looking at things from the last couple.”
Most players leave major tournaments frustrated or lost. Others leave and waste the opportunity, knowing that they are getting too much of a bite at the apple.
For Scheffler, the 2026 Masters would fall into that bucket. The one he captures in a different way – where road pictures are slow and moving in a different way. But this time, all Scheffler can do is wonder what could have been if one or two things had played out differently, whether it was under his control or the blue jackets at Augusta National.
