The 2026 Memorial Tournament is barely underway, and world number one has already lost his cool. During Thursday’s Open round at Muirfield Village, cameras caught Scottie Scheffler in a raw, extended outburst directed at caddy Ted Scott on the 16th hole. And every word of it has been picked up on the broadcast.

“I never thought that was the one. I don’t know what to do,” he told Scott on the tee box. “I can’t hear a word you’re saying. I felt like that was a good shot. Now I’m in the water because it came in from the right. Absolutely flushed a 7-iron, and we get the wind wrong, and I’m in the water.”

“I don’t think you understand how frustrating that is. Really was, flushed it, right on line. Wind is turning out of the right. God, really. That was a good shot. I don’t understand what I’m meant to do. I don’t understand. I really don’t. Like, there’s no way it could curve that much if the wind is helping. It’s so frustrating. I’ve lost a ball. I hit good shots and drop it from hazards. You cannot get the wind wrong.”

Scheffler kept going as Tedd Scott kept his cool. “I never thought I was wrong. I can’t hear what you’re saying. I felt like that was a good shot. Down in the water.”

What made the moment so striking was what actually happened on the tee shot. The par-3 16 at Muirfield Village is a water-guarded hole, and every camera on that hole was live when the situation unfolded. Scheffler stepped up and hit what he believed was a well-struck 7-iron and watched the ball carry directly into the water.

Scottie Scheffler was great on the front nine in two-under par, but shockingly, the back nine is where he lost the rhythm. He ended up shooting a two-over-par 74 on day one of the $20 million Memorial Tournament.

After the round, Scottie Scheffler talked to the media about what went wrong on the 16th, and he blamed it on the wind.

“That’s just another really good iron shot, and the wind switched from down off the right to pretty significantly in off the right,“ he said. “If it’s down off the right, that ball’s probably where I hit my wedge shot to. So just don’t really know what I’m supposed to do there, outside of trying to hit a good shot, and then it’s frustrating when it doesn’t work out, especially when it doesn’t work out in that direction.

“I would rather get gusted in off the left, not in off the right there. All you can do is just try to hit good shots. It can be very frustrating sometimes when you feel like you’re hitting good shots and then you’re going to the drop zone.“

Ted Scott has carried for 17 of Scheffler’s 18 PGA Tour titles, including all four of his majors. Their partnership is one of the most decorated player-caddy combinations in current golf, but it has shown a visible strain during the 2026 season, as Scheffler had not won in 10 starts after his American Express victory in January.

At the Arnold Palmer Invitational, after missing a roughly 10-foot putt on the 18th hole to card a bogey on Friday, furious Scheffler tapped in, picked his ball out of the cup, and chucked it straight into the adjacent water. 

At the Cadillac Championship in May, Scheffler was seen fuming at Scott after missing a tap-in par on the ninth hole, with the broadcast commentator noting that “Ted Scott’s ears may be bleeding by the end of the day.”

Off the course, the two are best friends and share a very good relationship.

A side of Scottie Scheffler that the sport rarely sees

Scheffler has built a reputation around emotional control that most professionals spend their careers chasing. When he spoke after the 2024 Memorial, he told a young interviewer that despite triple-bogeying the ninth hole, he “was very frustrated. I’m glad you couldn’t tell.”

And he credited patience as a defining quality of his mental game. With that said, it has been five months of winless drought for Scottie Scheffler heading into this week, and Memorial carries unusual weight as a result.

A three-peat at Muirfield would match a feat only Tiger Woods has pulled off at this venue. After this at the US Open, Scheffer would have a chance to complete his career Grand Slam, that too on his 30th birthday. Momentum sure is the key!