Round one of the FedEx St Jude Championship is in the bag and it’s little surprise to see Scottie Scheffler off to a good start at TPC Southwind.
Scheffler shot a very solid 67 to sit three-under par and five back of the early leader, Akshay Bhatia.
The world number one is looking to round off yet another memorable year with some more victories and of course, another TOUR Championship in a few weeks’ time.
For now, though, the focus for Scheffler is on the FedEx St Jude.
TPC Southwind is the host course this time around and after Scheffler praised the golf course in the build up to the event, he’s now given his verdict after playing in a proper round one day one.
Scottie Scheffler says what he thinks of TPC Southwind
Like many courses on the PGA Tour circuit, TPC Southwind has been given a bit of a once over in recent times to improve the course.
As with all the best courses, Southwind offers a tough test with heavy enough rough to punish bad shots and some tricky greens.
Indeed, in Scheffler’s opinion, the course is very much offering a true test of golf.
“Renovations were good. They put in new greens, fresh greens, firmed it up. They also, I felt like, they definitely tried to grow the rough a little bit thicker this year,” Scheffler commented.
“Overall I thought it was a really good test. You’ve got to hit the ball well out here, and there’s great rewards for good shots and the bad shots are being punished as well.”
After making two birdies in the opening three holes, Scheffler did concede the start of TPC Southwind is a tough easier than the back nine.
“I would say the start is a little bit easier than the rest of the golf course,” Scheffler continued. “You see the guys shooting low rounds, you’ve got to get off to a good start.
“You’ve got a reachable par-5 on the third and then two wedge holes to start as well. Did a good job getting the ball in the fairway and then hitting some nice approach shots as well.”
Scottie Scheffler shares how he avoids making bogeys
Barring a mistake on the 18th to make bogey, Scottie Scheffler would have once again got through a round of golf without making worse than par on any hole.
It’s a consistency that’s taken him to the top of the game and explaining how he does it, Scheffler admitted it’s easier said than done.
“It has a lot to do with execution. It’s easy to say, try to hit fairways, try to hit greens. It’s just way harder to do it. It’s way harder to hit a lot of fairways and hit a lot of greens. I think everybody always intends to do that when they go out there, and it’s one of those things that’s a lot easier said than done,” Scheffler conceded.
“When I’m executing and hitting fairways, it’s a lot easier to avoid bogeys, but when you start missing fairways out here, bogeys are going to come pretty quick.”
With the world number one in contention after just one round, we could well see him in the mix again come Sunday with how well he’s been playing.
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