Scottie Scheffler wasn’t sharp from tee to green on Thursday and carded a 68 in the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial. He saved the day. Today he played much better and signed for a 71. That’s golf for you. A real chaos when it wants to be.
Scheffler has a lot of work to do over the weekend if he wants to secure his third consecutive victory after the Byron Nelson and the PGA Championship, a streak, by the way, that no one has achieved on the PGA Tour since Dustin Johnson. Ah, Dustin Johnson. With a sigh of nostalgia.
The World Number One played over par, and that’s already news. He broke an impressive streak of 21 consecutive rounds tying or beating the course. The last time he succumbed to a course was in the fourth round of the THE PLAYERS, with a card of 73. Since then, 19 rounds under par, 14 of them below 70, and just two at par, one in the PGA Championship and another in the Masters. The streak was impressive, matching the results. During that time, Scottie has been: 2nd, 4th, 8th, 1st, and 1st.
Scheffler was better than yesterday from tee to green, but he didn’t sink anything. Or almost nothing. Just what was missing. He holed a 21-inch birdie putt and another from two metres. Nothing more. It’s a very meagre return on a course where it’s not easy to leave them close. The greens are very hard, and the fairways are narrow. Even with short clubs, you can’t stop the ball. The first bounce is always very strong. Scheffler, for example, experienced this on his last hole of the day, the 9th. He had a wedge in hand after a great drive, aimed for the flag, which was long, and flew the green into the rough. Bogey. He lost more than two and a half strokes to the field on the greens. It’s very difficult that way.
What happened yesterday seemed like bad news for the other players. A bad day for Scheffler and a round of two under par. No one expected that, now that he was really comfortable on the greens, he putted very well at the PGA and also yesterday, he would have such a disastrous day with the putter. But that’s how it was. The demons of golf can catch you at any moment. Even the Number One.
The million-dollar question is whether Scheffler is already out of contention for victory at Colonial. Certainly, it’s very challenging for him. He will need energy and spirit that might not be at their peak after the tough week at the PGA Championship. He is ten strokes behind leader Ben Griffin (-11), who won the Zurich Classic less than a month ago. Ten strokes are a lot. Griffin shot 63 and putted very well. Additionally, Scottie is seven strokes behind the second place held by Chris Gotterup (-8). He needs a very Scheffler-like weekend. No half measures will do.
Another protagonist of Friday morning’s session at Colonial was Rickie Fowler (-6). He carded a 64 and shot up the leaderboard to get into the fight for victory.
