It was telling that Scottie Scheffler, 12 shots off the lead, finished Friday with a fist pump.
Scheffler’s seven-footer for par dove right. It caught the edge. It fell to the bottom. And the World No. 1, filled with belief and relief, moved on to the weekend, some two touchdowns behind leader Marco Penge but with two quarters yet to play.
The putt told a story about the day, about the course, about the man. But mostly it ended a strange afternoon that began with an even stranger question:
What the hell is Scottie Scheffler doing in last place?!
Scheffler’s journey to last place was more complicated than bad golf. When a rain-delayed day finally halted play midway through the first round, Scheffler was only halfway through his first 18 at the Genesis. The horn sounded about a half-hour after Scheffler made double bogey at No. 8 and just minutes after bogey at No. 10. At the time, Scheffler was five over par, T71 in a field of 72, and stuck there from sundown Thursday to sunup Friday. Scheffler is familiar with the feeling of sleeping on the lead. This time he was sleeping on the anti-lead. Beating nobody. Strange.
I came out eager to watch Scheffler early Friday morning, curious to get a read on whether there was something gravely wrong with the best golfer in the world (unlikely) or if he was setting the stage for another exhilarating comeback (very likely). The 7 a.m. restart meant it was a sparse crowd, likely just as much due to the cold as the early hour (42 degrees by my count, likely colder in the damp dark of Riviera’s lowlands, an absolute no-go for a fairweather fan). Scheffler wore a white Nike winter hat over a white Nike baseball hat. He wore a sweater, plus a vest that he took on and off, as he tends to. It was a muted scene but pleasant; everyone in the coffee-clutching crowd seemed happy they’d decided to brave the elements. It’s special to watch the world’s best golfer play one of the world’s best courses alongside just a handful of bundled-up diehards. Even if he’s in last place. Maybe especially if he’s in last place.
Scheffler was undoubtedly on property in the wee hours, warming up his swing, his body, his mind. Comparatively, as someone who can barely function in the world, I misjudged traffic, struggled to find the correct parking lot and barely made it onto the course by the time play resumed.
When I saw Scheffler for the first time, he’d just hit the toughest tee shot on property, driver down the uncomfortable 12th, pummeling one 315 yards down the left side of the fairway. He hit an uncharacteristic approach, missing the green left with a wedge, but canned an eight-footer for par that turned out to be the start of something good. His next hole — smashed driver, wedge to eight feet, first birdie of the week — got him out of last place. I did not expect he would return.
To prove my point, Scheffler poured in a 20-footer for birdie at No. 14, too, to improve to three over par. And then he made a six-footer for par at No. 15. He’d missed several short putts on Thursday. This looked to be a different guy.
That’s what’s interesting: for the last three weeks, Thursday Scheffler has been a different guy. A strong finish to this first round still only put a neat bow on what had been his third mediocre opening session in a row. Scheffler started the WM Phoenix Open with 73. He opened the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with 72. Both efforts put him in the bottom half of those respective leaderboards. And now he’d rallied just for 74 at a soft setup at Riviera?
It’s fun to watch Scheffler dominate, but this routine has arguably been more interesting. It’s shocking viewing to see Scheffler dig himself a hole on Thursdays — and it’s riveting to watch him climb his way out. If it wasn’t antithetical to his entire way of being you’d figure he was doing it on purpose, spotting the leaders a 10-stroke head start just to make things interesting down the stretch. He roared back at TPC Scottsdale, 65-67-64, to finish one shot outside a playoff. He roared back at Pebble, 66-67-63, to finish two shots outside a playoff. Overnight at Riviera, Scheffler was 11 shots off the lead and beating nobody. He was still listed among the betting favorites.
As he appeared to lock in on another comeback, I studied Scheffler for some sort of tell — something that seemed different on Friday, something that made him play his first 10 holes at five over par and his final eight holes at two under. I mostly came up blank. The difference I saw could be chalked up to weather and conditions, plus a few putts, and the vagaries of a complex sport. He was less visibly frustrated on Friday, but that’s hardly a revelation; he wasn’t missing five-footers. When Scheffler’s on edge, you’ll know. As he said in his Tuesday press conference, with a grin, to a reporter:
“You’ve played golf before, right? Yeah, it’s frustrating.”
But Scheffler still leaves you with a strong in-person impression. His intensity stands out. That doesn’t mean white knuckles and a clenched jaw. It means a 30-second, full-focus huddle-up with caddie Ted Scott before picking the correct shot, even 10 shots off the lead. It means a complete reset before the next shot. One thing he has borrowed from Tiger Woods is a commitment to commitment. There is no pack-it-in option.
More Scheffler, from pre-tournament: “I may not be, like, the flashiest player, but I feel like my mind has always been my greatest tool, and I just try to use that to my advantage.”
That much is clear.
This article originated on Golf.com
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