Scheffler in defense mode
ORLANDO – Scottie Scheffler has a theory why he struggled to win a tournament during his first two seasons on the PGA Tour.
“I needed to bring the same intensity to Thursday and Friday as I did to Saturday and Sunday,” he explained.
Ever since he figured that out, Scheffler has become a world-beater. He won four tournaments last season in a nine-week stretch, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March and the Masters in April. This week marks his second of four opportunities to defend a title and so far he’s 1-for-1, having repeated at the WM Phoenix Open.
On Thursday, Scheffler brought the intensity to Bay Hill Club & Lodge and sprinkled six birdies and two bogeys on his card to shoot 4under 68 in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The 26-year-old is three strokes behind world No. 1 Jon Rahm, who shot 65, and one back of Honda Classic champ, Chris Kirk, and the PGA Tour’s reigning Arnold Palmer Rookie of the Year, Cameron Young, though the first round wasn’t completed at press time. With weather conditions expected to get more difficult, Scheffler is pleased with his start. In the past 15 years, only two other defending champs here started with 68 or better – Tiger Woods in 2009 and Matt Every in 2015 – and both went on to hoist the trophy.
“This place is brutal and it’s only going to get harder as the week goes on,” he said.
He called a 10-foot birdie at No. 8, a tricky par-4 dogleg right, the highlight of his round and also benefited from making two deuces, chipping in from 43 feet short left of the par-3 second green and holing a 39-foot putt at the par-3 17th.
“Two bogeys, a little frustrating, but it’s a pretty hard golf course and it doesn’t take much to make a bogey out here,” Scheffler said. He credited staying out of the rough with giving him a handful of birdie opportunities and declared the greens “ridiculously firm for a Thursday morning.”
“It better not blow too hard or they may need to slow them down or something,” Scheffler said. “I really don’t know what they’re going to do.”
Fortunately, Scheffler, thrives on hard courses and won at Bay Hill a year ago with a winning score of 4-under when the tournament turned into a U.S. Open in March.
“I feel like it’s a place where I can just try and hang in there,” said Scheffler. “That’s what I did last year. I didn’t play amazing for four days. One of the guys I played a practice round with this week asked me what I did so well last year, and I just told ’em I survived. That’s really what it felt like.”
Scheffler, who entered the week ranked second in the Official World Golf Ranking, can return to No. 1 with a victory but he’s going to need help from Rahm, who must finish worse than a two-way tie for second. Scheffler potentially could finish as low as a two-way tie for second and return to the top spot as long as Rahm finishes worse than 25th and Rory McIlroy doesn’t win.
But Rahm, who has three wins in 2023, most recently at the Genesis Invitational, shows no signs of slowing down. He made birdie at his first three holes out of the gate, dropped his lone shot of the day with a bogey at No. 8, but played the last three holes in 4 under, including sinking a 24-foot eagle putt at 16 to grab the lead.
Kirk, 37, who won last week for the first time in nearly eight years on tour, had a 5:30 a.m. wake-up call and began with a bogey at No. 10 but recovered with seven birdies en route to posting 67.
Young, 25, chipped in for eagle at the par-5 12th to match Kirk with 67. Young, a Wake Forest graduate like the tournament’s namesake, is seeking his first Tour title and was satisfied with his start despite not having his A-game.