Legendary golf commentator makes Scottie Scheffler prediction after latest near miss

Legendary golf commentator Jim Nantz has backed Scottie Scheffler to end his drought on the PGA Tour before the end of the season. 

Scheffler looked as though he was going to continue his dominance on the PGA Tour in 2026 after he won on his first start of the season at The American Express in January. 

But the 30-year-old has been unable to add to his tally of 20 wins and the four majors also passed without a Scheffler victory.

Two weeks ago, Scheffler also missed his first cut in 78 events, ending the longest unbroken streak on Tour. 

And on Sunday, Scheffler finished second to Jackson Koivun at the 3M Open in Minnesota. 

It represented his 11th top five finish of the campaign, though. 

But Nantz is backing the four-time major champion to step into the winner's circle again in the playoffs, which begin on 13 August at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.  

"He does not like finishing in second," Nantz said on CBS. 

"This is a player in Scottie Scheffler who was raised to win. 

"He won 95 tournaments as a kid in the Dallas area, junior tournaments.

"I mean, he won, like, 70 per cent of the time that he entered tournaments. 

"So he got addicted to, accustomed to, winning.

"And we've seen that over the last four years coming into this year, and it's just, it feels a little different.

"But this is a long game. He's not declining. He's not going anywhere.

"I'm not a betting man, but, you know, we're going to see him again in the playoffs. 

"And I have a very strong feeling that he'll win at least one of the playoff events.

"He is going to break through, and he'll break through in a big way."

There have been several theories floated as to why Scheffler has struggled, by his standards, in 2026. 

Slow starts appear to be costing him, whilst many believe that putting is his Achilles' heel. 

Nantz said: "I can't explain exactly what has been fractionally off this year. 

"It feels like, it's a little something every week. This week, it was the back nine on Friday.

"And, you know, it's just not quite to the level of perfection he had, but it's still, it's still good enough to be ranked number one in the world.

"It's impressive, and I'm sure today, he sat back and said, 'What do I have to do to beat this kid, to topple this kid?'

"Jackson just responded with total nonchalance the entire way."

Nantz backs Koivun for Presidents Cup call

Nantz, meanwhile, believes U.S. Presidents Cup captain, Brandt Snedeker, should pick the 21-year-old.

The United States team will take on Geoff Ogilvy's International side at Medinah Country Club over 22-27 September. 

"I think, in many ways, that Jackson Koivun has to receive strong consideration now to be on the U.S. Presidents Cup team," said Nantz. 

"I know we're about a month away from that team being put together, and captain Brandt Snedeker will make a lot of great decisions.

"He'll get some captain's picks, and this kid's going to be a force for a long time.

"I think it’s nice sometimes to be able to say that you gave him a chance as a wild card pick, a captain's pick, before, you know, he goes on a stretch of 25 years, whatever, where he's gonna make the national teams on his own.

"So that began to circle in my head as I was watching him today in his final round.

"He had a great record as an amateur, as we all know, that included playing in match play events like the Walker Cup.

"Jackson Koivun is going to be on the scene rubbing elbows with the upper echelon of the sport now for decades."