Signature Scroll: Scottie Scheffler starts strong at Travelers; Who are PGA TOUR's ‘five-tool’ players?

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Scottie Scheffler is contending. What's new?

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Who are the true “five-tool” players on the PGA TOUR?

It’s a term typically associated with baseball scouting, but in golf, it’s really four tools. That was a question I pondered while watching the first round of the Travelers Championship. How many players excel in every part of the game? Who is without a statistical weakness?

That sent me down a rabbit hole. Going off the four major Strokes Gained categories – Off-the-Tee, Approach, Around-the-Green and Putting – the list of players positive in each is lengthy if you start with just 2026 data, around a dozen. But as you’d expect, it quickly shrinks when you expand the scope. Over the last three years, only four TOUR players have gained strokes in each of the major categories each season. Three I would have guessed immediately: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood.

The last stumped me, but proved prescient as play continued at TPC River Highlands. It’s not Xander Schauffele, nor Cameron Young, nor Matt Fitzpatrick nor Justin Rose.

It’s Russell Henley.

It took me a while to figure out why I didn’t have him on my shortlist. Henley is a top-five player in the world and a valued member of the most recent Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup teams. He’s won in each season of the last two seasons.

Maybe it’s his soft-spoken nature, the fact he’s still searching for a major championship, or that he lacks elite distance, though the most compelling reason, I believe, is that Henley is simply greater than the sum of his parts. Sometimes that’s not as enthralling to watch. McIlroy is the best driver in the world. Scheffler’s the best iron player we have. Fleetwood is likely in the top five.

Henley isn’t top-tier in any specific skill, just above-average in all of them. We could do a better job appreciating that.

He’s right in the mix again this week, 4 under after the first round. Steady as they come.

Extend this thought even further, and the list keeps shrinking. Scheffler’s poor putting eliminates him in 2022-23. A down driving year in 2020-21 takes Fleetwood off the board, leaving only McIlroy standing.

A fun exercise that made me appreciate the play of Henley, a golfer we don’t think about often. Hoping he gets another big title or two soon so that recognition can catch up to his talent.

Playing through

• 🎥 Catch up on Round 1 highlights.
• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 New driver in the bag for Matt Fitzpatrick. He detailed all the changes that helped him shoot 64 on Thursday.
• 📺 Ten years since Jim Furyk's historic 58 at the Travelers. Furyk and his caddie, "Fluff," walked through their memories and a shot-by-shot analysis of his back nine.

Rookie rising

One to keep an eye on this week: Ben James is off to another solid start. He shot 2-under 68 on Thursday.

The Virginia alum just turned pro two weeks ago and continues to impress. He was the 36-hole leader at the RBC Canadian Open and was in the mix after the first few days at the U.S. Open, too. We are all, rightly, hesitant to crown any young player too early. We were burned recently as Luke Clanton, Nick Dunlap and Gordon Sargent haven’t been transcendent (yet), as many thought.

Nonetheless, it’s encouraging to see the recent PGA TOUR University No. 1 hit the ground running right after he turned pro. We haven’t seen these pops of success since Ludvig Åberg.

James still needs to put together four solid rounds. The reason he hasn’t been talked about more is he’s had one blow-up day in each tournament. He shot 78 in the third round in Canada to fall way down the board. He also shot 7-over on Saturday at Shinnecock and finished nine strokes back of Wyndham Clark.

I’ll be watching James closely this week and the rest of this summer and fall.

Parting shots

• 👍 Is this the week Scheffler finally gets his second win of the year? He’s off to a phenomenal start. He shot a bogey-free 6-under 64. Felt very ho-hum, and he’s tied for second. Feels very dangerous.

• 😮 Insane putting day from Ben Griffin. He gained more than five strokes on the greens alone, holing 163 feet of putts. That’s the sixth-best single-round putting performance this season.
• 👏 Cool to see Eric Cole atop the leaderboard. He was in contention here a year ago, T14 after 54 holes, but had to withdraw before Sunday after spending a night in the hospital. Cole deals with Addison's disease, which, when under stress, causes him not to produce the same hormones that a healthy person would. That leads to health flare-ups. He had one last year, and it cost him a great week.
• ❎ No new putter this week for Jordan Spieth. That was the subject of some speculation after he was seen testing different models and brands, but he showed up Thursday with his typical gamer gear. He shot 1 over and lost over two strokes on the greens.
• 🇺🇲 Brandt Snedeker hosted a dinner for prospective members of the U.S. Presidents Cup team. Snedeker said 20 to 25 players were in attendance. He didn’t name names, which led to a fun game of me trying to guess. Would encourage you to do the same.
• 🏌️ McIlroy isn’t in the field this week, but he was golfing on Thursday. McIlroy took a practice spin around Royal Birkdale, the site of The Open next month. How do we know? Sir Nick Faldo bumped into him and posted on social media. It's becoming increasingly common for players to visit the major championship venue a few weeks early to acclimate to the course.