Scottie Scheffler is off to a solid start at The Masters.
He caught fire from the jump to shoot three-under through two holes, but stalled out from there in difficult conditions. The world number one concluded Thursday’s play with an opening round of 70, five shots behind the leading Rory McIlroy.
Scheffler looked out of sorts in the build-up to The Masters, finishing outside of the top 20 in his last two events, and he hasn’t played since The Players. His poor performances have typically featured disastrous Thursdays, so this is a promising sign.
Still, he wasn’t in peak form, and he admitted as much after the round.
Scottie Scheffler rates how well he played in round one of The Masters
When asked after the round how he evaluated his day at Augusta National, Scheffler was largely satisfied.
The two-time Masters winner said, “I feel like I played really solid. There were a few putts I felt like I made that lipped out or stayed right on the edge. But other than that, really, really a lot of good stuff. I hit it nice. Drove it well today. Hit some good iron shots.
“But you know, like you said, it got so firm late in the day. It was pretty challenging.”
The course was incredibly firm at Augusta, and it only got firmer as the day went on. Scheffler was in the final group out so he saw the most challenging conditions of anyone.
He was asked what the biggest challenges of that was, and Scheffler said, “Just your normal stuff. The golf course gets firmer. The greens get a little more chewed up.
“Typically the wind is a little bit more, which I’m not sure if it was the case today with the wind, but the greens definitely got firmer and definitely got — you know, there was just a lot of traffic on the greens with guys reading putts and doing everything they need to do in order to get ready.
“So going out late is typically going to be harder than going out early, but that’s just part of it. I get to go a little bit earlier tomorrow, so get home, get some rest, and start over.”
Scottie Scheffler reacts to ‘carnage’ on 15th hole
Scheffler’s group, which also featured Robert MacIntyre and Gary Woodland, made a meal of the 15th hole. Scheffler and Woodland both cleared the green on their approaches after laying up, and MacIntyre joined them by putting off the green.
Miraculously, all three players got up and down for par. Scheffler was asked if it was the hardest he’s seen 15 play, and he said, “Yeah, I just got asked a question about that, and close to it. I think in 2022, we had some similar firmness, and it was pretty windy from what I remember.
“So that was as close as I could think, but with that hole playing a little bit downwind, even though it wasn’t much wind, you had to land it a pace or two on the green at the most if you wanted to hold it with your second shot.
“Hitting a wedge was — you basically only had the same amount of room. You saw what happened to Bob in my group there. It’s just stuff can happen quick around this place, and it’s really hard.
“Even like Gary and I both hit pretty good shots in there. His ball lands on the back fringe. He’s almost in the water long. You can just as easily chip skip that ball in the water. I’m sure you saw some carnage on that hole today, but it was challenging.”
MacIntyre had a difficult closing stretch to finish eight over par, but the conditions were so tough that no one can blame him. Scheffler did well to stay in contention, and it is now setup beautifully for him to kick on and win.