Ranked a dismal 148th for putting on the PGA Tour this year, Scheffler was seen practising with a wider bodied flat stick on the eve of the U.S Open first round in Los Angeles.

His troubles on the greens are in stark contrast to the World No.1's imperious driving and iron play.

Scheffler is the only player to gain 15 or more strokes from tee to green this year – he's done it four times – and also leads the Tour in hitting greens in regulation.

But his putting woes have left the Texan exasperated at times.

"If I hit a really good 6-iron, sometimes it's going to go to two feet and sometimes it's going to go to 15 feet, and it's like, 'Well, it doesn't make a huge difference'," Scheffler said.

Hence bringing an emergency putter to L.A.

Whether or not he uses it in Thursday's opening round, Scheffler said everyone must wait and see.

"I don't ever take decisions on switching equipment lightly," he said.

"It's strange that I've been struggling the past few weeks with my putter.

"The PGA I actually felt like I rolled it pretty good. Few putts here or there that lipped out that should have gone in.

"The Memorial, I had an off week on the greens or probably would've won that one.

"Sometimes you just got to bring another putter around there to make the original one scared.

"I've never really been one to try and overthink things. I try and keep things as simple as possible.

"I looked at that one that's a little bit bigger, and I still am kind of undecided."

Poor putting is the only thing keeping Scheffler from utterly dominating.

In a staggering display of consistency, the 2022 Masters champion has finished no lower than 12th in his past 16 starts.

During the streak, Scheffler has won The Players Championship and WM Phoenix Open, been joint runner-up at the PGA Championship and Hero Challenge, and recorded five other top-four results.

A deserved tournament favourite, Scheffler will play the first two rounds with Collin Morikawa and Max Homa.

World No.2 Jon Rahm is out with Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland.

Australia's World No.9 Cameron Smith will tee off with defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick, from England, and American Sam Bennett.