Scottie Scheffler eyes return to No. 1 with flawless start in Mexico

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Scottie Scheffler is coming off a magical TOUR campaign, and through the first round of the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, he’s re-kindled a little bit of Mexican magic from a year ago.

Scheffler, who finished fourth at Mayakoba last season, opened this year’s edition with a bogey-free 65. He was tied for fifth when Thursday's morning wave finished at El Camaleón Golf Course. Will Gordon shot a 9-under 62 to take the early lead.

“Solid golf. A clean card's really nice,” said Scheffler, who made three birdies apiece on his front and back nine.

An early stretch was key for Scheffler’s round. He scrambled for par on the third hole, knocking his approach to a few feet after taking a penalty drop, then followed that with a tee shot on the par-3 fourth to gimmie range.

“I felt like a lot of my birdies today I just hit it really close to the hole,” said Scheffler. “Like No. 4 was really close, No. 5 was a tap-in. No. 9 may have been the longest birdie putt I made today, and it was like 7 feet.

“I think when you're hitting the ball well here, you're going to get a ton of looks. ... If you're hitting fairways off the tee, the golf course will really open up for you. And you can get in some trouble in a hurry pretty much on any hole just because off the fairways is jungle.”

Scheffler is grouped with Viktor Hovland, the two-time defending champion, for the first two rounds. Hovland, who shot a matching 6-under 65, went on a heater after making the turn – firing a 6-under 30 for his second nine holes.

Scheffler said although “for the most part” he was trying to stay in his own zone, it was good to see Hovland score well.

“It's nice when you're on the golf course and you can see other players hitting really good shots,” said Scheffler. “I think that's good kind of momentum for the group, when somebody starts playing well, the other guys can kind of feed off of it sometimes.”

With a win or solo second this week, Scheffler will return to No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking. FedExCup champ Rory McIlroy reclaimed the top spot with his triumph at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina.

But Scheffler still has 54 holes left before he can think about getting back to No. 1. He’s relaxing this week after a long season that featured four wins and PGA TOUR Player of the Year honors. He took a Mexican cooking class Wednesday night with his wife Meredith, plus Max McGreevy and his fiancé.

“I’ll get by,” Scheffler said about his cooking skills. “Last night was fun having them show us what to do.”

Scheffler’s putting has been a question mark since his Masters triumph (he’s lost strokes on the greens in seven of his nine starts since then) but he said he had “solid” putts at THE CJ CUP, despite a T45 result, and more solid putts today – only needing 26.

“Solid golf is fun. Stress-free,” said Scheffler. “If you can keep the ball in play, the golf course is gettable.”

So, too, is the No. 1 ranking.