Scottie Scheffler opened up with a round of two-under-par 70 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Thursday.
While Scheffler is currently a whopping seven shots off the lead set by Daniel Berger on day one at Bay Hill, his round of 70 was a welcome one.
Before the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the 29-year-old world number one had shot n72 or worse in his last three opening rounds on the PGA Tour.
The man from Dallas, Texas, has already won this season, so there is no reason to panic, obviously.
Still, it’s very clear to see that Scheffler is nowhere near his best at the moment.
However, despite the fact that many parts of his game weren’t where they need to be on Thursday at Bay Hill, his driving was extremely good.
Scottie Scheffler explains why he’s using his new driver at Bay Hill
Scheffler posted a front-nine score of 29 in the Pro-Am at Bay Hill on Wednesday.
However, he didn’t bring those fireworks into the tournament itself.
Scheffler made four birdies, two bogeys and 12 pars at Bay Hill on day one of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The world number one put his new TaylorMade Qi4D driver in the bag for his first round on Thursday
And he was asked by reporters after his round why he decided to bring the new driver into play this week.
“I feel like I have seen more consistent spin numbers, so that will help with me be a little bit more accurate off the tee,“ Scheffler said.
“Directionally I had struggled a little bit with it at the start of the year but I go to what I felt like was a really good spot with it last week.
“And I liked what I saw from it today as well.“
The new driver certainly worked well for Scheffler on day one at Bay Hill.
Scottie Scheffler’s stats from day one at Bay Hill
While Scheffler gained strokes in all five of the main statistical categories on Thursday at Bay Hill, he ranked outside the top 24 in all but one of them – driving.
The American gained 0.608 strokes off the tee and ranked 18th in the field.
He was ranked ninth in driving distance and hit eight out of 14 fairways.
However, Scheffler clearly believes that his accuracy will improve moving forward with the Qi4D.
There is no doubt that the world number one will improve as the season rolls on.
His opening round 70 at Bay Hill on Thursday was about as bad as it could have been, and it should surprise nobody if he comes out on Friday and shoots in the mid-60s.
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