Scottie Scheffler unbothered as top-10 streak in jeopardy at Pebble Beach

Scottie Scheffler has some work to do if he wants to extend his top-10 streak.

It’s become a bit of a refrain over the last two weeks as the world’s top-ranked player had to claw himself back into contention at the WM Phoenix Open last week and now faces a similar task at the the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Scheffler, who has finished inside the top 10 in 17 consecutive PGA Tour events, is in the clubhouse at 11 under through 54 holes after posting a bogey-free, 5-under 67.

Just like a week ago, he moved up the leaderboard on Saturday. After rallying from two shots out of solo 10th to finish T-3 on Sunday at TPC Scottsdale, he’s three shots back of the top 10 this time.

But does Scheffler even care?

“I think 17 straight top-10s is a good result from a lot of consistent play,” he told reporters in his post-round interview. “Outside of that, I could not care any less.”

Scheffler has battled back after shooting even par in the first round Thursday at Pebble, two strokes better in relation to par than where he started at TPC Scottsdale a week earlier. Although he’s shown frustration at times during both tournaments, his demeanor seems to be a bit lighter this week on the Monterey Peninsula — more flummoxed by bad breaks than visibly enraged by them like he was in front of the big desert crowds a week prior.

“I feel like I’m close to doing some good stuff, it’s just around this place it’s challenging in some spots,” he said Saturday as inclement weather looms over the final round at Pebble Beach. “Like it’s hard to tell how firm and how soft some of the greens have been. Most have been pretty soft, but there’s a few — there’s a shot I hit in today, it actually bounced forward with a wedge and I just couldn’t figure out how it happened. Hit a couple where I just kind of misjudged how far the ball’s going to come back.”

When asked about the weather being an X-factor on Sunday and what it could mean to his game, Scheffler was blunt: the cold would mean he’d likely wear an additional layer for his last 18 holes at Pebble.

Does he think he has a chance to somehow come all the way back and win? Last Sunday, it seemed a bit ridiculous until it wasn’t.

“I don’t want to rule anything out for myself — you never want to limit yourself,” he said. “I’d obviously like to be in a better position on the leaderboard. But yeah, with crazy weather, crazy things can happen and we’ll see what I can do tomorrow.”