Scottie Scheffler leads the CJ Cup Bryon Nelson after day one following a majestic, bogey-free opening round of 10-under par 61.
Incredibly, Scheffler is still searching for his first win on the PGA Tour this season, but he will have a great chance to break his drought at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson this week.
His dominance over the past two years has been such that five top 10’s in eight starts in 2025 almost seems like a bad season.
Scheffler made a late commitment to play in the CJ Cup Bryson Nelson, and that now looks like an inspired decision.
In his opening round at TPC Craig Ranch, Scheffler hit 10/14 fairways, 15/18 greens and averaged just 1.4 putts per green hit in regulation.
Scheffler played alongside his good friend Jordan Spieth on day one in McKinney, Texas, and he made the 31-year-old’s round of two-under par 69 look very ordinary indeed.
Scottie Scheffler delivers ‘shocking’ verdict after day one of The CJ Cup Bryon Nelson
Scheffler sent a big statement to his rivals on Thursday.
The scary thing about his round of 61 was that he made it look so easy.
Whilst TPC Craig Ranch certainly isn’t the hardest golf course on tour, 10-under was still an incredibly good score.
Sure, a deluge of rain fell on the course on Wednesday, and the fairways and greens were softer as a result.
However, the golf course actually held up really well.
After his round on Thursday Scheffler told reporters what he thought of the conditions at TPC Craig Ranch.
He said, “Shockingly dry. The greens, too. I expected to walk onto the first green and kind of feel some sponginess. You couldn’t tell that we got three, four inches of rain here yesterday. Golf course recovered nicely and hopefully rain holds off the rest of the week, and we’ll see what happens.“
Considering the sheer volume of rain that fell in McKinney, Texas on Wednesday, the green-staff did an amazing job to get the course in the condition that it was in for day one of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
What Scheffler said about TPC Craig Ranch before he teed off on Thursday
He is obviously a huge fan of the layout in his home state.
Before the event began, Scheffler opened up on a big change made at TPC Craig Ranch.
The two-time major champion said, “The fairways being narrower, I think it’s really good. I think this golf course, the knock on it would be that it was a little bit too easy the last two years. There wasn’t a ton of rough, and the fairways were too generous. So having the overseeded rough and bringing in some of the fairways, I think brings a challenge to the course. I think that’s a good thing. I think putting more of a premium on guys getting the ball in play and not just hitting it as far as you can, I think it’s a really good thing for the golf course. We’ll see how it plays out this week.“
Can you imagine what Scheffler would have shot at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson if TPC Craig Ranch had not been made more difficult?
The world no.1 golfer looks like he’s ready to go on a tear, and a convincing win in Texas this week would send a strong message to Rory McIlroy that he won’t have things all his own way this year.
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