Raise your hand if you’ve heard this before: Scottie Scheffler nearly led the field in strokes gained on approaches to the green during the first round of the British Open, but ranked last in putting.
The world number one just couldn’t score, scraping the edges and lipping countless balls, and took advantage of plenty of chances, hitting 13 of 18 on the green, but his putt was just 57 feet long, good for 109th out of 158 players.
“It’s definitely frustrating when you see the ball from three feet away and you think it’s going in and it’s not,” Scheffler said after shooting a 1-under 70.
“At the end of the day, I pride myself on coming prepared and being ready to go. If I make a really good putt from 15 or 20 feet, the green isn’t perfect. It’s not a perfect surface. There’s wind and stuff and I lip out and it’s just like playing a numbers game. If I keep hitting really good putts, eventually it’ll go in.”
Scheffler’s positive mindset helps explain why he’s the best player in the world right now. He plays patiently and conservatively, a strategy that Tiger Woods consistently employed in his prime. When a player can’t do that, problems and big numbers quickly appear — just ask Rory McIlroy or Bryson DeChambeau after Thursday’s round.
Scheffler still had four birdies on Thursday, including two on the 16th and 18th holes toward the end of his round, but a blustery 25 mph wind out of the south led to three bogeys, and rain made the challenge even tougher.
“I don’t know if chaos is the right word, but it’s just difficult, especially with the rain,” Scheffler said of the situation.
“When you hit a wet ball against the wind, you’ll be surprised at how little distance it will go.”
Despite making some mistakes on Thursday that dropped him from first to fifth, Scheffler remains the favorite to win in the live odds. DraftKingsand that’s only natural.
He leads the tour in dozens of categories, but the most important are greens in regulation, bogey avoidance, birdies per round and bounce-back percentage – key attributes that apply especially to Royal Troon.
Scheffler makes a lot of birdies and rarely makes mistakes, but when he does stumble, he bounces back with a birdie nearly 35 percent of the time.
As the week progresses, there will be more problems as the weather doesn’t improve. As a result, many players with flaws in their game or who didn’t hit the ball as solidly as others will be eliminated. High winds often swallow up shots that were missed. But Scheffler doesn’t have to worry about that. He always compresses the ball in the center of the club face and hits the ball in the center of the green more than any other player on the planet. The only thing he should be worried about going into the final 54 holes is whether he can hole more putts. But as he said, it’s a numbers game and surely the ball will fall at some point. It’s the law of averages that says it all.
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In addition, Schaeffler has the advantage of history.
According to golf statisticians Justin RayEach of the past 24 British Open winners has been within five strokes of the leader after the first round, eliminating all but 141 players in the field. Scheffler is currently tied for 11th place, five strokes behind Daniel Brown, ranked 272nd in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR), who shot a 6-under 65 in his first major tournament.
Brown will probably come back a little, but even if he doesn’t, Scheffler will likely catch up. He hits the ball too well from tee to green. There are other major champions on the list, including Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele. They will no doubt influence the outcome of the 152nd Open, but keep an eye on Scheffler. He has confidence in himself and his putter, even though he struggled with a flat stick for much of the day (a dangerous combination).
“I don’t think I made a lot of putts, but I felt like I made a lot of quality putts, which is really good for me,” Scheffler said.
“I felt like I was hitting some really good putts all day, either over the edge or right around the edge. Hopefully I’ll continue to hit some good putts over the next few days and see where it takes me.”
If things continue this way, Scheffler may end up lifting the Claret Jug. At the same time, the Open is also the most unpredictable tournament for the world number one. No one knows how the matches will go at Royal Troon this week, but the strongest players are lurking on the leaderboard, and they should be a scary sight for others.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
