Scottie Scheffler gets back in 'tournament mode,' shoots 69 at RBC Heritage

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. – Scottie Scheffler gave himself some grace on Thursday. It’s been a draining few days since his Masters victory, he told himself. Just take what comes.

So when Scheffler shanked a bunker shot on the third hole, he chalked it up to a mental lapse. When he misjudged the speed on a few putts, he tried to pay it no mind.

But by the time Scheffler finished the sixth hole and sat at 1-over, he couldn’t just brush it off. “I got pretty frustrated towards the middle of the round,” he said.

See, Scheffler isn’t used to struggling on the golf course, no matter the circumstances. It was time to focus up. And so the world No. 1, who has won three of his last four starts and lost to just one golfer since March, did just that. Scheffler birdied the par-3 seventh and added late birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 to shoot 2-under 69 in the first round of the RBC Heritage. It extended his streak of consecutive rounds under par to 37.

“I feel like I had more energy now than I did at the beginning of the day waking up to go play golf, if that makes sense,” Scheffler said after the round. “I think getting into the tournament, hitting some shots, getting a bit frustrated, getting a bit excited about my finish there, all good emotions to feel. It's nice to be kind of back into tournament mode.”

Scheffler spent the early week insisting he wouldn’t have shown up if he wasn’t trying to win. His trip to Hilton Head wasn’t ceremonial. He’s not a pomp and circumstance guy, especially with a pregnant wife back home. Thursday’s round provided ample evidence Scheffler intends to put up a good fight. Scheffler shook off some early round rust, which included the shank and a double bogey on the par-4 third. He holed a 19-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventh to make the turn in even-par. The momentum-changer a few holes later.

After missing an 8-foot birdie on the 10th, Scheffler hit a great tee shot on the par-4 11th only to walk up to the ball and see a chunk of mud on it.

“That's a hard tee ball for me. I hit a great tee shot right up the middle of the fairway.… then I get up there and there's mud on my ball, and it's like, this is annoying,” he said.

He dumped his approach into a greenside bunker and left himself a difficult up-and-down. He holed a 16-footer from the fringe to save par.

“I was obviously frustrated with that type of break, and then to get up there and knock the putt in was a nice feeling,” he said.

Scheffler hit seven of his last eight greens to close the round. He hit it to 5 feet and made birdie on the par-4 16th and holed a 16-footer for birdie on the 17th. Rounds like Thursday seem to be Scheffler’s floor, at the moment. He’s shot above 70 only three times in his last four tournaments. By his admission, he wasn’t locked in mentally until the middle of the round. Yet, Scheffler still sits within shouting distance of the lead. As he finished, he was six shots back of J.T. Poston (8-under), but only three shots back of second. Those margins will likely shrink if Scheffler is dialed in over the final three days.

“I think sometimes that frustration from not playing my best I think kind of helps me focus sometimes,” Scheffler said. “You can use that as good energy and you can use that as bad energy, so I tried to use it as best I could for the good stuff today.”