Scottie Scheffler is just the fourth defending champion to open the Masters with a bogey-free round in the last three decades. (Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
(Andrew Redington via Getty Images)
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Scottie Scheffler walked off the course at Augusta National on Thursday afternoon having done what he does best.
It was a quiet, clean round that once again has him near the top of the leaderboard without making any noise whatsoever. It’s hard to imagine the top-ranked golfer in the world sneaking up the leaderboard, especially considering he’s the betting favorite and defending champion, but that’s exactly what he did.
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Scheffler posted a 4-under 68 on Thursday to open the first major championship of the season. He didn’t have a single bogey on the day, and he only had to really work to save two pars throughout his entire round. Other than that, it was a very straightforward outing for Scheffler that has him right in the mix.
“Anytime you can keep a card clean out here, it’s a really good thing,” Scheffler said. “Like you said, 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 for most of the day, kept the ball in play, did a lot of really good things out there.”
Scheffler birdied twice in his first four holes Thursday, thanks in part to a massive 62-footer at the par-3 fourth that he seemed to sink with ease. But, in true Scheffler fashion, he didn’t react much after the putt went down. Instead, after a quick wave, he just strolled off the green and moved on with his day.
Scheffler followed that up with another deep putt, this time from 40-feet, at the par-3 16th. That got him to 4-under on the day after leaving plenty of birdie chances out there that should’ve fallen. He had back-to-back tap-in pars in Amen Corner, and then he just barely missed a look at the 14th from off the edge of the green.
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The only real magic he had to pull out was on the 7th and the 17th. Scheffler went up-and-down to save par after perfect chips from greenside bunkers on both holes to set up what turned out to be easy par putts. He followed the second one up with a ridiculous approach from the fairway bunker at the 18th, which rolled all the way back and stopped not quite 10 feet from the cup. While he missed the birdie putt, he walked away with yet another easy par to end the round.
That kept his clean card intact, which made him just the fourth defending champion to open the Masters with a bogey-free round in the last three decades. He entered the clubhouse tied for second, two shots back of Justin Rose at the time.
Scheffler already has three top-10 starts on Tour this season, including at the Texas Children’s Houston Open two weeks ago, where he finished second. He’s made every single cut, something he did last season too, and said he’s just been going about his business. Everything since his Christmas hand injury, which delayed the start of his season, has been normal.
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“I wasn’t doing anything different, I was just able to get more and more reps in,” Scheffler said. “Just through time, I felt more prepared than I did for any other tournament.”
Scheffler was the favorite entering the week, and it’s easy to see why. Not only has he been on a historic tear that’s going on two years now, but Scheffler rarely stumbles at Augusta National. His rounds are almost never shockingly low, but he’s had only two rounds worse than even par in his last 21 outings. Everything else has been either at or just a few shots under par, which has given him two green jackets and three other top-20 finishes. And at Augusta, that’s all you have to do.
If Scheffler is going to repeat as champion, which is something the Masters hasn’t seen since Tiger Woods went back-to-back in 2001 and 2002, he likely won’t have to do anything extraordinary. Thanks to his nonchalant 4-under start, he’s in a position to keep tacking on birdies slowly but surely over the next three days.
As long as they keep coming at the same pace, he’ll be right there on Sunday afternoon.
This news was originally published on this post .
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