PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Rory McIlroy was speaking from experience when he suggested at the Genesis Invitational that Scottie Scheffler should try a mallet-style putter.
Scheffler put that model in the bag last week at Bay Hill – and won by five shots in his first start since McIlroy’s unsolicited tip.
“I’m not going to give him any more advice, that’s for sure,” McIlroy said with a smile Wednesday.
It wasn’t quite that straightforward, of course.
Scheffler had toyed with the idea of using that style of putter late last summer, when he was struggling to start his putts on-line. And he’d been experimenting with it again in the weeks prior to Bay Hill.
As for McIlroy, he was simply answering a question while watching Scheffler putt as he appeared as a guest analyst on the CBS broadcast.
In his experience, McIlroy said that, when he used a blade putter, he felt like his stroke needed to be “so perfect” to start the ball where he wanted and that a mallet “gives you a little bit more margin for error.”
“So, I’d love to see Scottie try a mallet,” McIlroy said on the broadcast, “but selfishly, for me, Scottie does everything else so well that he’s giving the rest of us a chance.”
At Bay Hill, Scheffler snapped a 51-week winless drought on Tour with a performance in which he ranked first in strokes gained: tee to green and fifth on the greens. McIlroy, meanwhile, tied for 21st as he looks for his first win on Tour this year.
“It’s very hard to talk about other players,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “Scottie has had enough criticism about his putting – you guys talk about it enough. It was me, basically, trying to talk about myself more than talk about Scottie.
“It was, OK, when I putted with a blade, I struggled. When I went to the Spider, I found a little more success and I was a little more consistent. I didn’t know he was going to put it straight in the bag and win by five.”
Then McIlroy transitioned to the subject of giving advice to other players. That can be tricky terrain to navigate, with so much at stake each week and competitive egos.
“If people ask for advice, I don’t feel like I need to be guarded,” he said. “Over the years, coming up through the ranks, people have been good enough to me if I’ve asked them for advice, or to give me advice, so I think I should be able to repay that to other people if they come to me.”
