Former PGA Tour pro explains Scottie Scheffler's poor record at the Ryder Cup

A former PGA Tour professional has been analysing Scottie Scheffler's struggles at last month's Ryder Cup and offered his insight into why the world No 1 did not perform as expected.

Scheffler was regarded as the spearhead of the US team at Bethpage Black having been the undisputed best player on the planet for the last two-and-a-half years.

He went into the contest on a high having won his sixth title of a stunning 2025 campaign at the Procore Championship, beating a field which featured nine of his Ryder Cup team-mates.

But US captain Keegan Bradley's expectations were in tatters in New York as Scheffler became the first American player since 1979 to lose all of his first four matches before avoiding a whitewash with victory over Rory McIlroy in Sunday's singles.

It's not uncommon for the best players in the world to struggle in team competitions, as Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson all have records that you would expect to be far better.

Woods has lost 21 of his 37 matches in eight Ryder Cup appearances, while Mickelson has suffered 22 defeats against 18 wins.

And after Scheffler's miserable run at Bethpage, former PGA Tour star Colt Knost believes the current world No 1 had similar problems to those encountered by Woods and Nicklaus.

"I really liked my argument for this, until you told me Phil has the most losses," Knost told the Straight Facts Homie podcast. "But we’re just going to take that out, because he’s an anomaly. 

"But Tiger and Scottie Scheffler, they have a lot in common actually. So when you watch them play day-in and day-out on the PGA Tour, it’s 72 holes, they wear you down, they don’t make many mistakes. 

"They probably make fewer mistakes than anyone. Scottie is a guy who hits it on the fat side of the green, gives himself 15 to 20 feet every single hole, gives him birdie putt after birdie putt after birdie putt. 

"Tiger was the same way. Those two and Jack Nicklaus are probably the three most conservative golfers we’ve seen.

"In the Ryder Cup, it’s an 18-hole sprint and playing safe, playing to the fat side of the green doesn’t work. I think that’s why both of them, their singles record is just fine. 

"But the team part, when it’s best ball, even when it’s alternate shot, you’ve got to go, especially the way Bethpage was set up. It was a birdie fest. You’ve got to go, you’ve got to be insanely aggressive."

It's not like Scheffler was playing that badly. He and Bryson DeChambeau were a combined 9-under par in their Saturday fourballs match together, only to suffer a 3&2 defeat to the red-hot English pairing of Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood.

"Scottie, he played the first four matches, the teams he played were 32 under par in 66 holes," Knost added. "They made 34 birdies, and two of those matches were alternate shot, you’re just not going to win. 

"Scottie’s team were 22-under, it’s not like they were chopping it up and making bogeys all over the place. They just got beat. 

"But you are the world No 1, you have to deliver, and the European studs delivered. I took Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton, combined, they earned 14 points. They retained the cup by themselves.”

Knost was also shocked by Scheffler's astonishing unforced error on the final hole of his Saturday foursome match with Russell Henley, when he blocked a wedge from the fairway into trouble to the right of the green.

That mistake compounded a narrow defeat to Bob MacIntyre and Viktor Hovland, and Knost said: "Oh my god, I’ve known Scottie Scheffler since he was six years old when he moved to Dallas, Texas. 

"I’ve played 1000 rounds of golf with him, seen him hit a million balls, I have never seen him hit a shot like that."