– We were wondering yesterday with some surprise why Scottie Scheffler hadn’t mentioned the short game, his worst area in the Pebble and Phoenix tournaments, and even on the first day of this exciting Genesis Invitational, although Thursday wasn’t really bad. Well, it was only a matter of time.
You can’t expect every player to give us an MRI of their entire game every day. Besides, yesterday he was brilliant in this area, achieving 100% of the recoveries (5/5) he faced, after hitting only half of the fairways. It makes sense that the pro prefers to address problems when they are already on the way to being solved…
“I felt that my short game over the last two weeks hasn’t been anywhere near where it should be. I think I made some shots around the green that were a bit unusual for me and this week I feel that, especially today around the greens, I was really good. So I feel that those short and delicate shots are always the last to come back after a longer break. And yes, it’s good to get those feelings back,” he explained yesterday after delivering a flawless scorecard, without bogeys, of 67 strokes.
It seems that the Number One has aligned one more planet. The matter is enough to make you shiver. Last year, and the year before, he didn’t even need to align the ‘Putter planet’ to win tournaments, but this week, so far, in the first 36 holes, he is among the best with this tool in his hands (he is sixth in the SG:Putting statistics).
Yes, enough to make you shiver. For one more reason: yesterday his tee-to-green game wasn’t even among the top forty on a course where, this week more than ever, with such rough, severe in the US Open style, it seems essential to go the right way to make a score. However, he took on the challenge the day proposed and turned the situation around, transforming a day that should have been more about damage control into one of assaulting the lead. Things like holing out from the sand for eagle on the 6th hole help a lot, of course.
This ‘incomplete’ version of the Texan yesterday is what truly sends shivers down his rivals’ spines. How is it possible that, without his best tee-to-green version, he is the only one capable of signing a bogey-free round on this minefield that is the South course? The secret, of course, lies in the famous recipe of ‘missing on the good side,’ the one Rory is also trying to make his own. How easy golf theory seems in the hands of guys like Scheffler…
It’s like when Tiger wasn’t doing very well on Thursday and Friday and, without changing his expression, said: “I’m going to need a 64 on Saturday to give myself a chance on Sunday.” And he would go and do it. And then, of course, win the tournament. Tiki-taka.
– Davis Thompson admitted yesterday that he hadn’t been paying much attention to the leaderboard of Scheffler and McIlroy so far. It doesn’t matter: even if he had, he wouldn’t have said so. As it should be. If he passes today’s commitment with flying colours, the biggest and most important of his career, playing in the star match on Saturday of a Signature Event alongside the Number One in the world, this young man will undoubtedly have to be placed a few rungs higher on the value scale. And if he doesn’t, well, it doesn’t really matter.
– Rory has wisely crafted that role of apprentice, referencing Scheffler whenever he can. But there’s no posturing in the Northern Irishman: it’s clear he has set out to imitate the Texan as much as he can. If you have to miss, do it on the good side and then squeeze out a killer short game… On Thursday, he achieved 6/7 recoveries in that hell that was the course. To duel with the Number One this week, he will need, as he himself pointed out yesterday, “to make better use of the par 5s.”
– Today there will be no water at Torrey Pines and even the wind will blow less. The greens may be a bit firmer and faster, but it shouldn’t be ruled out that some bright spark coming from further back could post a low score and join the group of contenders. If it were Tommy Fleetwood (-1), who is seven strokes behind the leader, we wouldn’t mind at all…
