rear Scotty Scheffler roared out of the gate. With three birdies in a row, you knew his name would be at the top of the leaderboard by the end of the day.
That actually turned out to be true. Scheffler continued to perform well on the front nine, making seven birdies and finishing with a 7-under 29. However, he suffered a bit on the back side and only had one birdie on the 14th, ending up at 8 under. 64.
Despite this, Scheffler leads the Hero World Challenge by two spots at the halfway point, which is a pretty impressive accomplishment considering the significant changes he made this week. Scheffler has a new putting grip and chooses to use the claw from inside 15 feet. He believes it has worked well so far, saying: Golf Channel's Rex Hoggard He said he felt “comfortable” through the 36 holes. Scheffler added that he starts each putt on his intended line, and that's pretty much all there is to the player.
For the rest of the match, Scheffler continues to destroy every course he plays from tee to green. He ranks first among the 20-man field in strokes gained approach, which explains why he was so low to begin with. his Wedge play is truly otherworldlyand he can take the shots he needs.
“I was hitting it close to the hole and I was hitting putts, so I'm not going to think too much about what I'm doing outside,” Scheffler said.
“I will continue to do everything I can.”
He's already the best player in the world, so if he plays like he did Friday, he'll be as unstoppable as Tiger Woods was in the early 2000s. But Scheffler also doesn't make terrible mistakes. Sure, we all have our share of failures, pushes and pulls. The same goes for Schaeffler. But the reigning Masters champion doesn't seem to stray too far from the tee or stray too far from the green. Even when he doesn't get a birdie, he usually shoots for par, as any golfer should.
This unmistakable belief is a major reason for Schaeffler's great success. Last season, he ranked second on the PGA Tour in bogey avoidance behind Xander Schauffele. It's no wonder why these two stars amassed so many wins.
Scheffler is also the defending champion at this week's Hero World Challenge, and his approach to this golf course emphasizes the importance of limiting mistakes.
“I think a lot of it is keeping the ball in play, which can be very difficult around the greens,” Scheffler said.
“For years here, I've been patient and waiting for it to get hot. This golf course has some opportunities, but it also has some severe penalties. For example, today's front Nine was when I got hot and was able to capitalize on it.”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation's Playing Through. Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
