Scottie Scheffler Reveals The Player He Would Switch Putting With

Scottie Scheffler might have racked up seven official victories last year, but it doesn't mean he's totally satisfied with his game.

Perhaps this is what makes the great players so great - a constant thirst and determination to improve wherever they can.

Prior to this week's PGA Championship, Scheffler let us all in on a few secrets - he's always watching and learning from his fellow competitors.

As hard as it is to believe following his incredible 2024 season, which also saw him pick up a gold medal at the Paris Olympics, he'd be happy taking someone else's putting game.

"So today I played a practice round with Sam Burns, and I remember when we played the Presidents Cup here in 2022, it was like he was putting to a hole that was the size of a basketball hoop.

"So I do a lot of practice rounds with Sam, and he's a tremendous putter. I would trade that with him."

As it stands, Burns leads Strokes Gained for putting on the PGA Tour. At 19th, Scheffler is certainly no slouch with the flatstick, and after his commanding victory at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson recently, he's just ahead of Rory McIlroy in the PGA Championship betting to lift the Wanamaker Trophy.

For context, the trading of skills with another player was a hypothetical question that was put to him, but his response was very interesting.

Scheffler, who will play alongside McIlroy and defending champion Xander Schauffele in the first two rounds at Quail Hollow, also singled out his "buddy" McIlroy for his driving and Jon Rahm for his focus.

Ahead of his quest to win a first PGA Championship title, he said: "I think in our game, there's always little things that I look at in people's games that I can improve on.

"You look at a guy like Rory, you'd be hard-pressed to find anybody that has drove the ball better than he has in the history of the game. He might be the best driver of the ball that we've ever seen.

"You had a guy like Tiger [Woods] had a ton of speed, but Rory just has the accuracy is what sets him apart too. Not only does he hit it really far, he hits it really straight.

"Now being out here playing all the time with the best players in the world, there's always something that I can learn. You look at a guy like Jon Rahm, like I love the way he plays with passion over every shot.

"It's very rare for him to lose focus, and you kind of see that in his face when he plays. He plays so competitively. Tiger was kind of the same way. Tiger was obviously the best at it, but every shot he hit was the most important shot that he's ever hit."

Scheffler also revealed how much he enjoys practicing and taking advantage of the practice facilities during a Major Championship, which could spell bad news for the rest of the field this week.

After picking up a rather freak injury at the start of the year, the signs of rust have disappeared, and his recent victory suggests that he's back to his best and ready to win a third Major title.

"I really do love to practice, and a lot of times you get to a great golf course like this and the practice facilities are really nice," said Scheffler. "There's a lot of space for us to be able to do our work.

"It can be really exciting to go out and practice, so I've got to manage myself, similar to an Augusta-type week where when you get to Augusta National, you just want to spend all day there and got to really manage the way I do things."