Scheffler atop crowded Colonial leaderboard
FORT WORTH, TEXAS » Scottie Scheffler did something last weekend that he rarely does, watching a golf tournament at home after missing a cut. The world’s No. 1 player is back on the course, and tied atop a crowded leaderboard at Colonial.
Scheffler was among eight players who shot 4-under 66 on Thursday in the Charles Schwab Classic. But he was the only in that group without a bogey, rebounding from his missed cut at the PGA Championship.
Cam Davis, Beau Hossler, Chris Kirk, Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Nick Taylor and Harold Varner III also shot 66s. Seven others were a shot back.
“The course is playing harder than it does in a typical year here. Yeah, I felt like I did a really good job of managing myself around the golf course,” Scheffler said. “Anytime you make no bogeys, it’s going to be a good round.”
Those who teed off in the morning wave — including Scheffler, Reed, Simpson and Varner — started with virtually no wind and cooler conditions. The wind picking up later in their rounds and gusted to 20 mph throughout the afternoon.
Defending Colonial champion Jason Kokrak and Jordan Spieth, the 2016 winner who last year became a third-time runnerup, shot 69.
Many players wore ribbons pinned to their caps to show support for the community of Uvalde, Texas — about 350 miles south of the course — after 19 students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at an elementary school Tuesday.
Reed birdied all four par 3s at Colonial, including a 64-foot blast from the greenside bunker into the cup at the 237-yard fourth hole. His only bogey came on his last hole, after missing the fairway on the 400-yard dogleg right ninth hole.
In his previous 11 starts the past four months, Reed missed four cuts and finished no better than 26th. He has slipped to 38th in the World Golf Ranking — he was ninth when at Colonial last year.
“It feels good to get a number out of it,” Reed said about his 66. “Honestly, I feel like there’s been too many days that I’ve done a lot of things really well.”
Steven Alker, Bob Estes share Senior PGA lead at 64.
BENTON HARBOR, MICH. On a day when birdies were flying around Harbor Shores in the first round of the Senior PGA Championship, Steven Alker began soaring with an eagle.
The 50-year-old New Zealander, who already has won twice and leads the PGA Tour Champions money list with almost $1.2 million, started his round with a 25foot downhill eagle putt on the 539-yard, par-5 10th hole after a 240-yard approach with a 5-wood. He then finished his afternoon round with his sixth birdie of the day to shoot a 7-under 64, which was tied late in the day by 56-year-old Bob Estes.