For the second straight week, the world No. 1 is off to a slow start.
Scottie Scheffler, who opened last week’s WM Phoenix Open in 2-over 73 before rallying to a T-3 finish, carded an even-par 72 Thursday at Pebble Beach Golf Links and sits T-62 out of 80 competitors, double-digit shots off the lead, at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Pebble Beach, one of two co-hosts for the first two rounds of the PGA Tour’s first signature event of the season, played to an average of around 3.7 strokes under par while nearby Spyglass Hill was slightly tougher at 2.4 shots under par. Leader Ryo Hisatsune fired a 10-under 62 at Pebble, one shot better than Sam Burns’ 63, also at Pebble.
Uncharacteristically, Scheffler missed seven greens and lost over two strokes on approach, ninth worst in the field and fifth worst among those at Pebble. He also lost over two shots with the putter.
Most of the negative came later in Scheffler’s round, as he had hit every green by the time he rolled in a 7-footer for birdie at the par-4 fourth to go 1 under. Scheffler bogeyed the next hole, birdied the par-5 sixth and turned in 1-under 35. But on the back, Scheffler hit only three greens, two on par-5s, including No. 18, which he birdied. He bogeyed the par-3 12th after missing a 3-footer and left his 81-yard approach from a nasty lie at the par-4 16th in a bunker 20 yards from the flag; he bogeyed No. 16 as well.
Scheffler entered the week having made 17 straight top-10s on the PGA Tour, the longest streak since Billy Casper in 1965.
Now, he has opened consecutive tournaments with rounds of par or worse for the first time since 2020 (per Justin Ray), when he did so at the Tour Championship and Sanderson Farms Championship.