It’s a strange experience watching Scottie Scheffler in the end zone
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — It meant that Scottie Scheffler, 12 shots from the lead, finished Friday with a fist pump.
Scheffler’s seven-footer for par dove right. Hold it on the edge. It fell to the ground. And the World No. 1, full of belief and relief, went into the weekend, another two touchdowns behind leader Marco Penge but with two quarters to play.
The putt told a story about the day, about the course, about the man. But it ended a strange afternoon that started with an unfamiliar question:
What the hell is Scottie Scheffler doing at the end?!
Scheffler’s journey to the final was more difficult than bad golf. When a rain-delayed day finally stopped play midway through the first round, Scheffler was in the middle of his first 18 at Genesis. The horn sounded about half an hour after Scheffler made a double bogey on No. 8 and just minutes after a bogey on No. 10. At the time, Scheffler was five over par, T71 in a field of 72, and stuck there from sundown Thursday to sundown Friday. Scheffler is familiar with the feeling of sleeping on the lead. This time he was sleeping on anti-lead. Not hitting anyone. Which is strange.
I eagerly went out to watch Scheffler early on Friday morning, curious to learn if something was wrong with the world’s best golfer (likely) or if he was preparing another pitch for a thrilling comeback (very likely). The 7 am restart meant a small crowd, probably due to the cold as the first hour (42 degrees by my count, almost freezing in the humid darkness of the Riviera lowlands, a total absence of a hot weather fan). Scheffler wore a white Nike winter hat over a white Nike baseball cap. He was wearing a sweater, and a vest that he took off and on, as he usually did. It was a muted but sweet scene; everyone in the crowd holding coffee seemed happy that they had decided to be brave. It’s special to watch the world’s best golfer play one of the world’s best courses alongside just a handful of diehards. Even if he is in the last place. It is possible especially if he is in the last place.
Scheffler was undoubtedly in his place in the early hours, warming up his swing, his body, his mind. In comparison, as a worldly incompetent, I misjudged the traffic, struggled to find the right parking spot and didn’t get on course while the game was on.
When I first saw Scheffler, he had just hit the hardest shot in the area, a driver down the awkward 12th, hitting 315 yards down the left fairway. He hit the wrong way, missed the green with a basin on the left, but banked an eight-footer for a par that was the start of something good. His next hole – smashed driver, wedge to eight feet, first birdie of the week – put him out of last place. I didn’t expect you to come back.
To prove my point, Scheffler birdied 20 on No. 14, again, to advance to three over the division. He then made a six-footer on the par No. 15. Missed a few short putts on Thursday. This looked like a different guy.
That’s what’s interesting: three weeks ago, Thursday Scheffler you have be a different guy. A strong finish in the first round capped off what was his third straight opening session. Scheffler started the WM Phoenix Open with a 73. He opened the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with a 72. Both efforts put him in the bottom half of those respective leaderboards. And now he’s racked up just 74 on a soft setting at the Riviera?
It’s fun to watch Scheffler dominate, but this process was undoubtedly more interesting. It’s shocking to see Scheffler dig himself into a hole Thursday — and it’s great to see him step up and out. If it wasn’t against his whole approach, you’d think he was doing it on purpose, seeing leaders with 10 lashes to make things more interesting. He roared back at TPC Scottsdale, 65-67-64, to finish one shot out of the playoff. He roared back to Pebble, 66-67-63, to finish a shot out of a playoff. On the night at Riviera, Scheffler shot a leadoff 11 and hit no one. He was still listed as betting favourites.
While he seemed stuck in the middle of another comeback, I read Scheffler in a certain way – something that seemed different on Friday, something that saw him play his first 10 holes in 5 over par and his last eight holes in 2 under. Most of the time I came up empty handed. The difference I’ve seen may have to do with the weather and conditions, as well as fewer putts, and the roughness of complex games. He could have looked frustrated on Friday, but that’s not a revelation; he would miss by five feet. When Scheffler is on edge, you’ll know. As he said in his press conference on Tuesday, with a laugh, he told a reporter:
“You’ve played golf before, right? Yeah, it’s frustrating.”
But Scheffler still leaves you with a strong sense of introspection. His tenacity shines through. That doesn’t mean white knuckles and a clenched jaw. It means a 30-second, focused meeting with caddy Ted Scott before taking the right shot, even 10 shots off the lead. It means a complete reset before the next shot. One thing he doesn’t borrow from Tiger Woods is commitment. There is no packing option.
More Scheffler, coming out of the pre-tournament: “I may not be, like, the brightest player, but I feel like my mind has always been my biggest tool, and I try to use that to my advantage.”
That is obvious.
After a short break, the trio of Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Si Woo Kim headed to the first round to begin their second round. While World No. 1 calling number 1, it was as if the return was officially open.
But it wasn’t like that. Scheffler ate No. 2, ran through four pars in a row, then took No. 7. He was back to 4 over par, one player ahead (Garrick Higgo) and 11 shots behind playing partner Xander Schauffele.
At that time Scheffler looked very depressed. His hat was startled, he climbed to the eighth place and collapsed on his seat in frustration. He then fired his shot well to the left, repeating the left miss he had struggled with all day. As the ball came up off the fairway, Scheffler dropped his driver on the follow-through, apoplectic. That’s typical of Scheffler: he’s so used to things going well that he can’t believe it when they don’t.
At that point it seemed like Scheffler’s tournament was over. But ironically, the stumble seemed to highlight how few stumbles there were. Cutting has become easy, there are many uncut events and small fields. Still, Scheffler hasn’t missed one since the summer of 2022. Those are nuts. Even more impressive is Scheffler’s streak of 19 consecutive finishes of T8 or better. We can take his tirelessness for granted, but we shouldn’t.
The key to Scheffler’s relentlessness is that he never take anything for granted. So he found his way to No. 8 and played excellent golf over the next 40 minutes, coming within three feet of No. 9, hitting a two-foot drive on the par-4 10th, and hitting a brilliant second on the par-5 11th. Birdie, birdie, birdie. He needed one more, but didn’t get it until the par-5 17th, where he splashed a mid-length challenge, putt all the way to four feet and made the putt. Then came No. 18, where he just missed the green but missed a chip shot before redeeming himself with a nervy par putt to buy him two more chances to climb the leaderboard.
The fist pump, along with the vicious high fives he shared with Scott, showed the man clearly wasn’t too cool to grind for a cut. All of that to crack the top 50 in a field of 72 players. All that to keep the streak alive. All that climbing from the ground floor to the first floor.
Scheffler made no excuses after the round. He sounded relieved to get away with the measure in the end after he “tried to make a mud with a basic chip there.” He admitted that he hasn’t quite cracked Riviera’s code.
“I don’t know, this place and I have a strange relationship, I feel like I could play well out here but I haven’t,” he said.
As for his Thursday woes? Scheffler mentioned some specific situations: “I wouldn’t say anything in particular.” So there.
For obvious reasons, Scheffler has always been compared to Woods. It is therefore fitting that Riviera should give him equality. It gave Woods his due, too. The tournament somehow never won.
Scheffler probably won’t win this one, though you’d be foolish to write him off completely. As it turns out, Scottie Scheffler isn’t very good at being in the end zone.
And it’s even worse to stay There.
Dylan Dethier will be in the Riviera all weekend. You can reach him at dylan_dethier@golf.com.
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