Newtown Square (United States) (AFP) – Through three consecutive PGA Tour runner-up finishes, Scottie Scheffler could only wonder what might have been without poor starts. Now he’s hoping to find out. Defending champion Scheffler grinded to a three-under par 67 on Thursday to grab a share of the first-round lead at the PGA Championship alongside six rivals at challenging Aronimink.
“Definitely the best start I’ve gotten off to this year,” said Scheffler, who allowed his opening 63 in an American Express victory in January might have been up there too. “I felt like, especially going into the weekend when you look at like the Masters and Hilton Head and Cadillac, finishing second was probably not all that bad from where I was starting the weekend. Definitely nice to get off to a better start this week.”
Related news
Scheffler fired his worst rounds at the recent tournaments at Hilton Head and Doral on the first day and started 70-74 at the Masters before a bogey-free weekend left him one stroke behind winner Rory McIlroy. Scheffler is set for an 8:40 a.m. (1240 GMT) start on Friday after going off late Thursday while most of those who share the lead have afternoon starts on day two.
“It’s a really tight leaderboard,” Scheffler said. “At this moment it’s anybody’s tournament.” World number one Scheffler only missed one of 14 fairways on Thursday in taking an 18-hole major lead for the first time.
“There are a lot of run-ups on the greens and they put the pins on some of the high points,” Scheffler said. “So your scores are definitely going to be lower if you hit the ball on the fairway, but it’s still really difficult to make birdies. You hit some really nice iron shots in there to 10 or 15 feet, and you’ve got putts with a ton of break on them. This golf course, especially on the greens, is quite challenging.”
Scheffler stood and laughed after missing a four-foot putt at 14 that led to a three-putt bogey. “There’s a ton of slope on the greens. That putt in particular on 14, it was like the pin was on the very highest point of the green,” Scheffler said. “I played it what I thought was right center, and it broke pretty severely to the right. There’s just not much you can do there other than laugh. That’s part of the game. Sometimes you get good and bad breaks. I holed a couple of long putts today and any time you’re able to do something like that, you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”
Philadelphia-area fans of the NFL Eagles taunted Dallas Cowboys fan Scheffler at times. “I got chirped more than I expected for being a Cowboys fan, but it was all in good fun,” Scheffler said. “I got quite a kick out of it.”
© 2024 AFP
