Subscribe
Follow Us
The Open Championship is underway at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, and a familiar face is near the top. Scottie Scheffler finished the opening round of the 153rd Open Championship with two birdies to end three-under par. Usually, the putter is the troublesome club for the number one player in the world. But on Thursday, Scheffler struggled with his driver and pulled off a rare feat.
“Scottie Scheffler's 68 ties the lowest score by a player who hit 3 or fewer fairways in an Open Championship round [in] the last 25 years,” Justin Ray of TwentyFirst Group posted.
Scheffler won the PGA Championship in May, picking up his third major title in the process. On that Sunday, he struggled to keep the driver from leaking left, but was able to power through it. On Thursday, Scheffler was losing drives in every direction, especially when the rain was coming down. But he flipped it at the end to shoot up the leaderboard.
Scheffler made a birdie on the 16th and 17th holes to move to three-under at the end of his round. At that time, he was just one shot off the lead. Of the four major championships, The Open Championship has been the hardest for Scheffler. His two top-ten finishes were not competitive finishes. In his historic 2024 campaign, his T-7 finish was eight shots behind Xander Schauffele.
Scheffler and his partners, Shane Lowry and Collin Morikawa, will tee off at 10:00 A.M. Eastern time on Friday. The later tee time will be beneficial after a soggy first round for the world number one. The Northern Irish crowds will certainly be following that group again on Friday afternoon, as the Irishman Lowry joined Scheffler under par on Thursday.
The Open Championship continues on Thursday afternoon, as hometown kid Rory McIlroy stages his quest for a sixth career major and a second Open title.
