Scottie Scheffler has only one win in 2026, and somehow that’s enough to spark an “off-year” conversation.
That label feels a little wild when you zoom in on what he’s actually done. Since the calendar turned, Scheffler has played 14 events and made the cut in all 14. He’s finished in the top 25 every single time and landed in the top five nine times, a 64.3% top-five rate that would make almost anyone else’s season look absurdly strong.
The results behind those finishes tell the same story. Scheffler has posted two third-place finishes, four runner-up finishes, and his lone victory came at The American Express. He also just came up short at the Travelers Championship, where he lost in a playoff to Viktor Hovland.
For a player coming off a season with six wins, including two major titles, the bar is obviously higher. But by ordinary standards, this is not a slump. It’s a run of elite consistency that has turned into a strange kind of disappointment only because the wins haven’t piled up the way they did before.
And the money follows the same pattern. Scheffler has already banked more than $15 million in tournament winnings this season, while still sitting as the world No. 1 and the current FedEx Cup points leader.
So the question hanging over all of this is simple: are wins the only thing that matter?
For Scheffler, that’s the standard now. And by that standard, even a season this good can get called “off.”