Akshay Bhatia (-6), Rickie Fowler (-6), Kurt Kitayama (-6) and Will Zalatoris are the leaders of the Travelers Championship once the morning round of the first day has ended. The names are illustrious, no doubt, and their respective rounds of 64 strokes at the TPC River Highlands (Cromwell, Connecticut) have been excellent, but with all due respect, the spotlight is on another player, Scottie Scheffler (-5), who is once again peering at the top of the leaderboard after a limping week in Pinehurst. It may be too early to determine that the ‘roller’ has regained all the finesse and energy, but the fact is that today he has reminded much more of the Scheffler of weeks and months ago.
It’s curious: today, in just one hour, the time it took him to cover the first four holes, he almost added up the same number of birdies as the 72 holes of the US Open, where he only signed four (today he made birdie at holes 2, 3 and 4). “Last week I was hitting putts that seemed good and when I looked up they didn’t even have a chance to go in. I struggled a lot to see the falls on last week’s greens, to find the right line,” the Texan pointed out just after finishing the round, undoubtedly relieved.
It wasn’t just a matter of the greens. Scheffler has found something else. “This week we found something on the practice range and today I definitely felt more comfortable with the swing. It’s hard to explain but I got a better feeling at the top of the swing”. Well, that’s it, it’s very hard to explain, it’s not that they don’t want to do it. After all, in this sport, sensations can vary dramatically by a matter of millimeters…
Let’s not get carried away either. Scheffler has admitted to having reached this point in the season with a lot of mental and emotional wear and tear, so we will still have to test in the next rounds if he has really recovered one hundred percent his best version. Today, of course, he has sunk mid and even long distance putts and has also scored a powerful eagle on hole 13, where he hit a fantastic wood from the fairway to leave himself a putt of just over two meters. It’s coming, it’s coming…
