If there has been one weakness in Scottie Scheffler’s game, it has been the putter. The World No. 1 player ranks 96th on the PGA Tour in SG/putting for the year, but given how well he hits the ball, if he happens to gain strokes on the greens any week, he’s very likely to win.
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Though ranking 96th on tour doesn’t sound impressive, it’s a huge jump compared to last year when he ranked 162nd on tour in SG/putting. So it’s no surprise that Scottie Scheffler got emotional on Sunday thanking Phil Kenyon, perhaps the leading putting coach in the world, who has worked with other great players such as Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, and started working with Scheffler after the Tour Championship last year.
Kenyon was smiling next to the rest of Scheffler’s team during the green-jacket ceremony on Augusta National’s practice putting green in this great moment. It’s possible Kenyon was already thinking about what he might say to dunk on the internet haters who were apparently ruthless.
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Well, Kenyon had his revenge on Wednesday—tweeting a simple ‘wave’ emoji as if to say hi to this one specific hater.
It’s clear Kenyon kept receipts!
👋🏻 https://t.co/eHF3g2ee5Z pic.twitter.com/sE9DJj8FCM
— Phil Kenyon (@KenyonPutting) April 17, 2024
Scheffler was also asked about Kenyon’s influence in his press conference with the media on Sunday after his victory:
“After East Lake last year, ride home on the plane, sitting there talking to [his agent Blake Smith], and we kind of look at each other, and I think we both were thinking the same thing. And we both looked at each other, and I was like, “You know, I want to see a putting coach.
“Blake goes, ‘I think that’s a good idea. Let’s talk to [Blake’s father and Scheffler’s coach, Randy Smith].’
“I had watched [Phil Kenyon] before and watched him coach players. When you’re out here as long as I’ve been, I just see stuff, and I loved the way Phil coached his players. You look at a guy like Fitzy who lines up his putts and uses a putter that has a lot of swing to it, and you look at a guy like Keegan Bradley, doesn’t use a line on the ball, uses a big giant putter cross-handed, and he putts good.
“As I watched Phil, I could tell that he was open-minded, and that’s the type of people I like to work with. And we kind of hit the ground running in the fall. I can’t speak highly enough of the decision that Randy also made to be open-minded, not take an ego to it, sit there, watch us work, watch Phil do his thing.
“Phil is also a guy that doesn’t have a big ego. He just wants what’s best for his players. I’m really, really fortunate to have those two guys as part of my team.
“I can’t — it’s hard to — it’s hard to describe what it’s like, having somebody — Randy had taught me for almost 20 years every single aspect of the game. And so for me to have to bring in somebody else could have been a shot to his ego and he may not have wanted me to do it. But Randy sat there and he said, ‘You know what, I think it’s the right time.’
“We called Phil, and about a week later he came in, had a visit. We worked for a couple days, and, yeah, now we’re here.”
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
