Scottie Scheffler struggled to hit the fairways on Thursday.
In the first round of The Open Championship at Royal Portrush, the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world hit only three of 14 fairways. Yet, that didn’t prevent him from being near the top of the leaderboard at golf’s fourth and final major.
Scheffler carded a 3-under 68 and is tied for sixth and only two strokes off the lead.
“I actually thought I drove it pretty good,” Scheffler said. “I don’t know what you guys are seeing. When it’s raining sideways, it’s actually, believe it or not, not that easy to get the ball in the fairway. Thank you guys all for pointing that out.”
Scheffler added, “But yeah, 3-under par. Felt like I hit the ball nice off the tee, and really only had one swing I wasn’t too happy with on maybe the 2nd hole, but outside of that, I felt like I hit a lot of good tee shots, hit the ball really solid, so definitely a good bit of confidence for the next couple rounds.”
Scheffler started the day with five pars on his first six holes, with a birdie on No. 3. He picked up another birdie on No. 7 but gave a stroke back with a bogey on No. 9.
The back nine began with a birdie on No. 10 and then followed that up with a bogey on No. 11. Scheffler settled down with four straight pars before carding birdies on No. 16 and 17. He would finish his round with a par on No. 18.
Scheffler admitted afterwards that the conditions were a challenge on Thursday.
“Probably the rain,” Scheffler said. “Wind is something that obviously makes links golf challenging, but the rain adds a whole new element to it, especially when you’re hitting the tee balls. You get a little moisture between the club face and the ball, especially with the longer clubs and the woods, and it can be pretty challenging.”
Matt Fitzpatrick (4-under 67) and Rickie Fowler (2-under 69) were a few of the more notable golfers in the Top 10. Former LSU All-American Sam Burns, Phil Mickelson, John Rahm, Shane Lowry, and Sergio Garcia were among a group of golfers that shot 1-under 70 on Thursday.