Scottie Scheffler struggled in round one of the US Open yesterday as he failed to hit the heights he’s shown in recent months.
The world number one was nowhere near his best as he battled to a final score of one over par which kept him just about in contention going into day two.
For Scheffler, being down the leaderboard will feel a touch strange given where he’s been with his game in recent weeks and months.
Scheffler is widely regarded as the best ball striker on the PGA Tour. From tee to green, he’s topped nearly every stat going this season.
However, yesterday was a struggle, especially off the tee with drive, as Scheffler continually found himself in tough spots in the tricky Pinehurst rough.
And commenting after Scheffler had hooked another drive left off the tee, Sky Sports commentator Paul McGinley pointed out the big problem in Scheffler’s game in round one.
Paul McGinley picks out what was so bad about Scottie Scheffler’s game in round one of the US Open
Watching Scheffler put another ball off the fairway as he made his way down the back nine, McGinley admitted to being shocked by just how bad the world number one had been off the tee.
In a conversation with Wayne ‘Radar’ Riley, McGinley couldn’t believe how bad Scheffler was driving the ball.
McGinley: “Have you ever seen Scheffler drive it so badly?
Radar: “No”
McGinley: “It is quite incredible. He has hit just five fairways. They are not tight fairways.”
Indeed, the performance off the tee box was backed up by golf stats expert, Justin Ray, who shared on his X account how poorly Scheffler was doing.
Whether or not Scheffler can pick it up ahead of round two, remains to be seen.
The good thing for him, though, is that he is still only one over par.
In that sense, if gets it together, then he could very much be one of the players who goes low on day two.
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