Scottie Scheffler has hit back at suggestions a supposed slump in form to start 2026, as the world No 1 looks to win The Players Championship for a third time in four years.
Were he to be successful round TPC Sawgrass again this week, Scheffler would join Jack Nicklaus as the only other three-time winner of the event.
But a tied-24th finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday marked Scheffler's worst PGA Tour result in 13 months, as he ranked 44th in the field for the week in strokes gained approach - his worst in any 72-hole PGA Tour event for four years.
Speaking ahead of The Players, where he partners Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Thomas in the opening two rounds, Scheffler defended his form in 2026, adding "I'm always my own biggest critic".
Asked whether he had struggled to meet expectations so far this year, Scheffler responded: "I think that's kind of a funny question, because if you flipped my season around and it was like, I finished 24th or something last week, 12th, then third and fourth, and a win... would your question be the same?
"Your expectations of me are living week by week. My expectations of myself are almost more shot by shot.
"I think when you look at the perspective of the media, it's always trying to create a story, which can be a great thing - that's part of your job. But when it comes to my golf game, my expectations are all based around what I want.
"For me mentally on the golf course, it's about being committed to what I can do and controlling that aspect.
"So far, throughout this season, I've been really good in some spots and then some other spots I feel like I can improve in terms of my commitment to the shot."
Scheffler added: "I think I'm always my own biggest critic.
"No matter what round of golf you look at, I think there's always something you feel you could do better.
"Typically, I'm not a huge stats guy, because my feel is what I trust the most.
"There's been certain instances in my career where I may have had a really good round, and I get off the golf course and Randy [Smith] will go, 'great job, that was awesome', and I'll be like, 'we got to go to the driving range'.
"The conclusion is I'll trust my feel before anything else."
Scheffler was a six-time worldwide winner last year and opened his 2026 campaign with a four-shot win at The American Express, seeing him join Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to have 20 PGA Tour victories - including four majors - before turning 30.
The world No 1 recovered from uncharacteristically slow starts at the WM Phoenix Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am to finish inside the top-four in both, only to see his record-breaking run of 18 consecutive PGA Tour top-10s ended at the Genesis Invitational.
Scheffler's most recent start at Bay Hill saw his score get progressively worse as each round progressed, following an opening-round 70 with scores of 71, 72 and 73 and ended the week with two bogeys in the last five holes.
"He's been like it [irritable] for quite some time," Wayne 'Radar' Riley told the Your Site Golf Podcast this week. "I don't know what's going on with Scottie. He won the American Express and you thought 'he's off and running, he's going to win a load', then it's just gone off the boil.
"I've heard him have a right few whinges. On the golf course you don't really know what you're going to get.
"When you're a new person coming on tour, it's all lovely. It's like a big old box of chocolates. You cruise out there and everything's just 'dandy', as they say over here. As you stay on tour a little longer, seeing some things start to go wrong, you start to see players' true characters.
"He has been having a whinge because things aren't currently going his way. In the last three years, he's only won like 100 million dollars? Stop your whinging!"
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