SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Scottie Scheffler hit a chip shot on the par-4 18th gap and displayed an uncommon quantity of anger, slamming the shaft of his wedge into his leg time and again because the ball rolled to his ft.
When he did the identical factor on No. 8, the world No. 1 participant threw his arms up in disbelief, then muttered to himself as he walked away with one other bogey.
Scheffler shot a 2-over 73 within the first spherical of the Phoenix Open on Thursday, capping off a shaky begin to his bid for his third straight PGA Tour title.
The irritating spherical left Scheffler 10 strokes from Chris Gotterp’s early lead and put him at risk of lacking the lower for the primary time in additional than three years.
Scheffler capped off the 2025 season with a victory in Napa, Calif., and picked up his twentieth PGA Tour win this season with a victory on the American Categorical in Palm Desert, Calif. He has posted 33 consecutive rounds underneath par, and his final spherical under even par was within the third spherical of the Vacationers (2 over) in June.
Scheffler entered the Phoenix Open as the favourite to win his third championship at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, having gained back-to-back races from 2022 to 2023.
Regardless of ultimate scoring circumstances, his bid didn’t go as deliberate.
Scheffler acquired off to an awesome begin, pulling inside 3 ft for birdie on the par-4 tenth. Issues did not go nicely on the following gap, and he instantly hit a bogey, then sandwiched a bogey with two birdies on the lengthy 14th par-4.
Scheffler added one other birdie on the seventeenth earlier than issues began to collapse.
He made bogey with a double chip on the 18th, made one other putt on the 3-putt on the first, and made a double bogey on the 2nd with a putt close to the 449-yard gap.
Scheffler pushed his drive into the appropriate fairway bunker on the par-4, however might solely advance the ball 54 yards into the left tough and gouged his third shot in need of the inexperienced. Unable to enhance his efficiency, he made a double bogey and fell to 2 over.
After a birdie on No. 3 and a flub-tip bogey on No. 8, Scheffler wanted a decrease spherical Friday to keep away from lacking out on his first berth for the reason that 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship, as he shot a 3-over 38 on his second shot at No. 9.
Scheffler headed to the observe vary instantly after his spherical, hoping to search out one thing to assist him proceed his streak of longest lively cuts on the PGA Tour, which he achieved at age 65.
Info from The Related Press was used on this report.
