Scheffler Rules Stroke Play, yet Alternate Shot Keeps Beating Him

How alternate shot works

The Presidents Cup's own FAQ defines foursomes as two partners playing one ball in alternating order on each hole. Rule 22 of the Rules of Golf adds that partners also take turns hitting first from the tee, so each golfer hits roughly half the shots and inherits every lie the other leaves.

Four-ball is the friendlier cousin. Each golfer plays his own ball and the side takes the better score, so a great player's birdie always counts. In foursomes, a great player hits half the shots, from wherever his partner put the ball.

Why the best player can own the worst record

Paul Hodowanic of the PGA Tour made a fair case after the Friday loss at Medinah on September 25, 2026. Statistically, Scheffler was one of the best performers of the day. He and Sam Burns lost 1 up when Burns' 18-foot birdie putt on the 18th lipped out. Hodowanic wrote that Scheffler has "undoubtedly played better than that record suggests."

There is a structural reason too, though this part is my reading rather than anything the data proves. Scheffler's edge is accumulation: over 72 holes he hits more good shots from better spots than anyone else. Alternate shot halves his share of the shots. Match play then scores it hole by hole, so one lipped putt counts as much as a week of excellence. And nine matches is a tiny sample. Flip a coin nine times and it can land badly.

Snedeker kept Scheffler and Burns together for the first three sessions, explaining on Friday that the two are best friends who play a lot of golf together. The partnership was not the whole story, either. The Friday loss left Scheffler 7-12-4 across every Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup match he has played, the PGA Tour calculated, and foursomes accounts for most of that damage. Before Medinah, Data Golf listed him 2-0-1 in Presidents Cup four-ball, a far kinder number from the format where both balls stay in play.

The low point came at the 2023 Ryder Cup in Italy, where he and Brooks Koepka lost a foursomes match 9 and 7. The PGA Tour notes that before Medinah, it was the last time he had sat out a team session.

Saturday on the bench, Sunday at his best

Captain Brandt Snedeker sat Scheffler for the Saturday afternoon foursomes on September 26, and framed it kindly.

Scheffler said he would "just sit there and cheer the boys on." That morning he had holed a 21-foot birdie putt on the 15th in four-ball, sparking a 2 and 1 comeback win with Burns. It was the format where his own ball always counts.

Sunday was singles. Against Nico Echavarria, a fan yelled "Go Scottie" during Echavarria's backswing on the 14th. Scheffler confronted the fan, reports agree, then conceded Echavarria's 30-foot par putt after missing his own birdie try, and still won 2 and 1. It was his first Presidents Cup singles win, after losses to Sebastián Muñoz in 2022 and Hideki Matsuyama in 2024, according to Data Golf.

So the record is real, and strange, and it will follow him into the next team event until he changes it. But look at the formats where his own ball carries the side and the puzzle mostly dissolves. Give him every shot and he is the player we see win majors. Give him every other shot and he becomes, for a few hours, merely very good. That is almost comforting.