In recent years it has taken a pair of binoculars to see anything error with Scottie Scheffler’s golf game. However, he left last week’s US Open complaining disturbing trend: all season he has been, by his own standards, a slow starter, seeing the leader’s shots before playing catch-up on the weekend.
“I haven’t had many 36-hole shots this year, I haven’t any 54-hole bullets,” he said.
Well, that didn’t last long.
Just five days later, Scheffler owns the 36-hole lead at the Travelers Championship. After a Thursday round of six-under 64, he set the country on fire Friday morning, making 11 birdies against just a single bogey en route to a 10-under 60 and a two-round record at 16 under par.
He leads by two from Viktor Hovland, who could only manage a 9-under 61.
Scheffler is right about his trends over the course of the season: He is third in scoring average for his second, third and final rounds on Tour this year, but just 57th in his first rounds. This week he has improved on both his Thursday and Friday signs.
Scheffler had some interesting things after the flurry of birds.
Mostly he was oblivious to his dominance, making the difference between a good and a great round a matter of a few putts.
“Some days they hang on the edge and don’t go all the way in, and then other days they’re finding the bottom of the cup. Today was definitely a day where most of them were finding the bottom of the cup,” he said.
Scheffler would have become only the second player in tournament history to break 60 twice, though he admitted he doesn’t remember much about it. 59 at TPC Boston in 2020.
“I wish my golf memory was a little better, to be honest with you. I remember the end of that round, the birdie putt I made on 18, but other than that, I don’t remember much.”
He joked that shooting 59 here wouldn’t be that impressive anyway, knowing Jim Furyk shot 58.
“It was kind of funny. It was like, ‘Yeah, it would be nice to shoot 59, but someone already shot 58 here, so it’s not even the course record,'” he said. “You know, Jim kind of takes some of the special 59 off when you’re still losing.”
And he shared a favorite quote from the golf world.
“The old golf saying is you’ve got to be really smart or really dumb. I don’t want to call myself stupid, but my long-term memory isn’t that sharp. Maybe it’s a little easier to leave some things behind,” he said. He added that he’ll occasionally go back and look at old footage of his golf swing when he needs clues — “looking for feelings and the kinds of things you like — but mostly he likes to stay in the present.
Finally, he gently disproved another golf cliché: that it’s hard to back up one good round with another good one.
