– Scottie Scheffler (-2) breathed a sigh of relief yesterday after signing one of the best scores of the day in the first round of the Genesis, a card of 70 that left him two strokes behind the leader, Denny McCarthy (-4), and included him in the select group of players who had managed to conquer the South course at Torrey Pines on a challenging day. Relief, therefore, for having held strong in very demanding conditions. But above all because, as he explained, his swing had been more consistent than in his last two outings, Pebble Beach and Phoenix.
And the World Number One elaborated on the matter: “last year, when I wasn’t competing to win, you could generally say it was because of my putter, but in the last two weeks I’ve felt strange because I haven’t hit the driver and irons well. Today I did better and continued making good putts.”
– Not a single reference from the Texan to the short game… Well, what the broader statistics of his first two tournaments of the season, Pebble and Phoenix, say is that it was this part of the game, around the green, that faltered the most. In six of the eight rounds, he lost strokes compared to the tournament average, and overall, in both tournaments, it was the only area (SG:Around The Green) where he lost strokes compared to the players’ average. Almost two strokes deficit in Phoenix and more than a stroke and a half in Pebble, to be more precise. Curious.
– Scheffler might argue on this: okay, but I hit drives and irons so surprisingly poorly that I put myself in too many difficult situations around the greens… And he might be right.
– Let it be clear, however, that at Pebble Beach he finished the tournament as the best (the best!) in the SG:Approach To Green statistic, or in other words: generally (and arithmetically) no one hit the second shots better than him, or more solidly and consistently. So, something doesn’t add up.
– Let’s go back to the driver. If one clings to the cold numbers, one must necessarily conclude that, indeed, Scheffler didn’t hit the driver at Pebble and Phoenix with the precision and accuracy he was accustomed to, but in reality, he only had two really weak days with this club in hand. However, those two days coincided with the final round in both tournaments. And that stings much more. And it’s etched in memory.
– And let’s finish with the putter. His overall numbers aren’t bad on the greens, but in Phoenix, he putted really poorly on Thursday and only moderately on Friday… The issue is that he’s more accustomed to this circumstance and not so much to suffering a bit more than usual from the tee or from the fairway. Yesterday, in short, in very adverse playing conditions, he gained an advantage over the rest of the competitors in all areas of the game, but if we’re being picky, his weakest statistic was again SG:Around The Green.
– Today, Friday, will also be a challenging day at Torrey Pines, although perhaps a bit less so, as the weather forecast predicts less rain and it doesn’t seem like the wind will blow more than yesterday. Scheffler hit a drive to smash it on the 13th hole, par 5, a 3-wood for the second shot to smash it, and a 9-iron for the third shot to smash it… And that’s without playing from the ominous rough at any point, because Morikawa, on the 9th hole, also a par 5, missed the fairway and ended up hitting a 5-iron for the third shot to the green. There are weeks of the year when it’s appealing and fun to see things like this, we’re not going to deny it.
– You have to go down the fairway. If you want to win this week, given the rough, you have to go down the fairway. It’s the most repeated statement in recent hours at Torrey Pines. For now, the leader, McCarthy, hasn’t been by any means the one who has hit the most fairways. In fact, yesterday he only hit half (7/14). So? Well, some balls ended up in the first cut, others were found in a slightly more playable position… But above all, he putted like an angel. Or like Denny McCarthy, which is the same on the greens. He started his round by sinking a putt from the collar over twelve metres.
– Seamus Power (-3) has been one of the standouts at the start of the tournament. With him, there was no choice but to resort to the cliché: it makes sense for an Irishman to do well in ‘Irish conditions’ of play. Well, very well. Power aims to make it into the European Ryder Cup team. It’s one of his goals. If he wins this week, he would earn 500 points and move to the brink of those top six spots. He’s not someone you’d bet on, to be honest, until he forces you to…
