There’s no stopping Scottie Scheffler. One can only hope to contain him.
Scheffler entered this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open looking for his third straight win. He won both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship in his final two games.
In the latter, Scheffler sustained a minor injury to his neck and battled through pain. You wouldn’t know it by looking at the way he continues to dominate the golf course.
He shot a 5-under 65 in Thursday’s opening round to lead Taylor Moore by one stroke.
He then dealt with a neck injury and subsequent rehabilitation.
“Yeah, my neck feels better, my body feels better…The off week was a good week for me to rest and rehab. I took a few more days off than last week, so , it was a good recovery time,” Scheffler said.
Photo by: Logan Lilley/Getty Images
In fact, he gave his fellow tour players a day off and took the day off at last week’s Valspar Championship.
Scheffler struggled a bit to start Thursday, especially when his approach shots missed the first three greens. However, the world number one player was still unable to finish without conceding a goal.
“I had a solid round. It’s always nice to keep your cards clean and no bogeys, but especially on a golf course like this. It’s nice to be able to keep your cards clean.”
Scheffler experienced some momentum-building ups and downs on the front nine (starting on the 10th). After making the turn, he returned to the zone that golf fans have been eyeing for almost two years.
He birdied three of the first five holes on the back nine and finished at 5 under.
After Thursday’s performance, Scheffler went from being a heavy favorite to enter the tournament to a hell of a lot. If you pick him to win now, you should put -120. That’s unheard of in just one round, especially for a fighter who isn’t even in the lead.
But that’s Scheffler’s current dominance.
Still, he remains calm.
“I try to be patient on the outside. At the beginning of the week, I don’t think about Sunday, I just focus on today,” Scheffler said.
The big Texan will be joining Friday afternoon’s wave for more history.
Kendall Capps is the senior editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social media platforms.
