Scottie Scheffler started the WM Phoenix Open almost exactly as you’d expect. Fairway drive, wedge to 3 feet, birdie. Not a golf-loving soul on earth was surprised.
But that’s what followed on Thursday – actually, what immediately followed – it was so amazing. Scheffler’s next swing was pulled into the water hazard left of the 11th hole. He took a putt, played to the hole and made a comfortable bogey. Okay, moving on.
But this was one of the THREE special occasions during the first round, where Scheffler followed up a birdie with a bogey. The man whose the best trait may be avoiding cheaters was doing it just when you’d expect him to rush OVER leaderboard. Of course he wasn’t trying, but doesn’t he feel… whimsical? Here we are number 1 in the world. His golf has become so consistently above average that it’s strange when it drops significantly below average.
Scheffler shot a two-over 73 on Thursday, which leads Chris Gotterup beat 10 from within the same group. According to the statistics teacher Justin Rayit’s the first time Scheffler has been beaten 10 or more strokes in a round by a playing partner since 2021.
So what did it look like? Well, Scheffler missed a chip on the 18th hole, chipping it onto the green, only to see it return to his feet.
But that’s not all. He dropped another chip on the 8th, leaving it short of a ridge only to see it roll back off the green. He would bogey, essentially snapping a streak of 33 consecutive rounds of par or better on Tour. That’s what we’re trying to drive home to you, the savvy golf watcher, today.
Scottie Scheffler rarely EVER there are bad days. That was as bad as anything he’s had in the last 12 months on Tour. It was the third-round 72 he shot at the Travelers Championship last June, where he still rallied for a T6 finish. It was the third-round 76 he shot last year Torrey Pines in the Genesis Invitation. According to the scoring average, both of those days will end up with a record similar to this one.
And besides that? No other day on Tour in the last 12 months has Scheffler been so low on the leaderboard. Scheffler pulled a few shots to the left, leading to knockdowns. If you are a pessimist, you can remember all those losses left during the last round of the match The PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. But if you’re an optimist, and you really should be, you’ll remember that just when things got tight at last year’s PGA was when Scheffler turned it on, played perfect golf at home and won by five.
