Scottie Scheffler changes putting grip in opening round of Hero World Challenge

Scottie Scheffler said Wednesday that he used last year’s Hero World Challenge as a catalyst to his 2024 season. That worked well as he won in the Bahamas and then won eight times, including the Olympic gold medal, this year.

In his continuous quest to get better, the world No. 1 implemented a claw grip in the opening round of his Hero title defense.

Scheffler used both a conventional method and a claw grip — routinely on putts inside 15 feet — in shooting 5-under 67 Thursday at Albany GC. He is three off the 18-hole lead, held by Cameron Young.

“I would say I’m always looking for ways to improve and I felt like this was something that we had looked at last year when [putting coach] Phil [Kenyon] and I first started working together,” Scheffler said after his round.

“You know, this year I had thought about it from time to time and it was something that we had just said let’s table that for the end of the season, take a look at it. Took a look at it this offseason and figured this is a good week to try stuff just because you can practice and practice and do all the stuff at home, but there’s just something different about being in competition. I really enjoyed the way it felt, I felt like I’m seeing some improvements in my stroke.”

Scheffler ranked first on the PGA Tour this past season in strokes gained: total, tee to green and approach to green. He was second on Tour in strokes gained: off the tee. On the other hand, he was 77th in strokes gained: putting.

On Thursday, Scheffler made 54 feet of putts and was 10th among the field of 20 in strokes gained: putting, losing only 0.058 shots.

Scheffler added that he didn’t have a set distance where he would use the claw grip but, “The closer I get to the hole, kind of that inside 15-foot range, I think that’s where I’m seeing a lot of the benefits of it.”