Scottie Scheffler among Masters leaders after first-round 68
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Defending champion Scottie Scheffler answered any doubts about his readiness to win another green jacket by posting a bogey-free, 4-under 68 to grab a share of the early clubhouse lead in the first round of the 89th Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday.
Scheffler had three birdies on the first nine, including a 62-foot putt on the par-3 fourth hole. He added a 42-foot birdie on the par-3 16th to grab a share of the early lead with Canada‘s Corey Conners.
Scheffler is only the fourth defending Masters winner to open the next year’s tournament with a bogey-free round in the past 30 years.
With sunshine and little wind, the morning wave of players enjoyed pristine scoring conditions, other than Augusta National greens, which were fast and firm even after more than an inch of rain fell on Monday.
“I had a feeling the golf course was going to get pretty firm,” Scheffler said. “The areas to hit your irons out here are pretty small, and they get even smaller when the greens are firm, so there’s definitely some challenge to the golf course today, and I’m sure that’ll continue as the week goes on.”
The world No. 1 golfer had a relatively stress-free round in the opening 18 holes of his attempt to join Jack Nicklaus (1963, 1965 and 1966) as the only golfers to win the Masters three times in a four-year span. Scheffler can become only the fourth golfer to win a green jacket in back-to-back years, joining Nicklaus, Nick Faldo (1989-90) and Tiger Woods (2001-02).
Scheffler now has four straight opening rounds in the 60s at the Masters, the second-longest streak in the tournament’s illustrious history, trailing only Nicklaus, who accomplished the feat five-straight times from 1972-76, according to ESPN Research.
On the par-4 seventh, Scheffler needed a nice up and down out of a greenside bunker to save par. Then on the next hole, the par-5 eighth, he smacked a 319-yard drive into the second cut down the left side. His approach with a fairway wood went right of the green and landed in a deep divot.
“Just one of those deals-sometimes you get good and bad breaks,” Scheffler said. “Fortunately, there was still a way I could play the shot. But, yeah, I was just in a divot about that big. Pretty deep.”
Somehow, Scheffler chipped to 14 feet and made the putt for a birdie to get to 3 under.
“It was pretty challenging,” he said. “I hit a really awesome shot to get it to about 15 feet. I had to put it in the back of my stance, stand close to it, make sure I got ball first, and I hit this kind of low skipper.[I] was fortunate to be able to get some spin on it because it was sitting so deep in that grass. I was surprised it didn’t hit the front of the divot when it came out. That’s how deep it was.”
On the par-4 17th, he made another deft pitch out of a greenside bunker and an 8-footer to save par again.
“I felt pretty good,” Scheffler said. “Anytime you can keep a card clean out here, it’s a really good thing. I struggled for what felt like two pars today. I had to make two really good up-and-downs. But other than that, the golf course was in front of me most of the day, kept the ball in play, did a lot of really good things out there.”
The bad news for the rest of the field is that Scheffler says he feels as prepared for a tournament as he has all season. He missed the first month after cutting his hand in a cooking accident at Christmas, which limited his ability to practice.
He hit 11 of 18 greens, so there’s room to improve over the final 54 holes.
Source: espn.com