Scottie Scheffler hit. And it hit. Never mind that his round had ended hours ago. Never mind that a steady rain was soaking his white hat, black vest, white shirt and blue pants. Under the eye of the long swing coach Randy Smith and caddy Ted ScottScheffler hit the muddy range at TPC Sawgrass. And it hit.
Because of mistakes.
It was such a day Players Championshipat least when looking at the benchmark for world number 1. Scheffler had shot an even-par 72, and he trailed the early wave leader Maverick McNealy with only five. But it was the means by which Scheffler arrived at his number that was alarming. He left immediately. often. He hit seven walks. And he went right seven times. He went exactly to no. 10, his opening hole. And 12. And 14. And 15. And 16. And 5. And 7. “Yeah, I went on like I should,” Scheffler said.
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But why? Scheffler said it had to do with a driver key. Gone is TaylorMade’s new Qi4D driver, which he used at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week. Back is Qi10 that he has played for the last two seasons.
“I’ve seen some improvement in the new driver; my swing is a lot more consistent,” Scheffler said after his round. “It’s actually a touch faster than my driver. But the way I play, I always hit a lot of different types of shots and the one last week I felt like it was going a little left, and when I want to hit my putter, a lot of times I hit it in the middle of the face and it starts drawing on me, so I think that’s a little fairer, why the ball started today.
“You look at a hole like 14, 7, 16, you can’t really miss left. I don’t think I had enough confidence in what the driver’s head was doing compared to where I was last week. I think it can be hard sometimes to block those things.
“But I’ve seen some improvement in the new driver. I just haven’t been able to trust him in all the different shots I hit, especially off the tee.”
There were positives on Thursday. Scheffler won the infield hit and putt. He birdied the par-5 9th, his final hole of the day, in one of the neatest ways you’ll see: ball to the left side of the fairway, stretch to 70 yards, wedge to 2 feet. “It’s nice to end up this way versus the other way,” he said.
There is also trust in the old driver. In 2024, Scheffler won nine tournaments, including the Masters and the Olympics. Last year, he won six events, including two majors.
However, he had to strike.
And it hit.
“I mean, it’s easier to hit it from the fairway than from the rough,” Scheffler said. “I played really rough today. Like I said, I hit some good iron shots, which was really nice. I had that nice wedge on 9, really sharp iron shots on 6, and I did a pretty good job of managing my way around the course.
