Scottie Scheffler is in contention after round one of the Players Championship, although it hasn’t all been smooth sailing.
Scheffler was frustrated in practice at TPC Sawgrass, but seemingly put that behind him to shoot a three-under 69 on Thursday.
World number one Scheffler had a painful neck injury this time last year at the Players Championship, but he still managed to come out on top.
Those 2023 and 2024 Players Championship wins represent two of his 13 PGA Tour titles, both of which arrived at TPC Sawgrass.
Scheffler has, therefore, conquered the Ponte Vedra Beach course more than once, but his opening round this time around was not exactly without struggle.
Scottie Scheffler in a ‘negative frame of mind’ after Players Championship first round
Scheffler ended his Thursday three shots behind the early leaders on T20, having carded four birdies, 13 pars and one bogey.
And it seems that a bit of his frustration poured into his post-round press conference, with Ryan Lavner saying on the Golf Channel Podcast with Rex & Lav: “The two questions which really got Scottie to be at his snarkiest or most sarcastic or grumpiest…
“One was about his putting and someone asking him essentially what do you boil down those missed putts to.
“He goes ‘well the hole is about this big and sometimes you are putting from ten feet and it can go here, other times it can go here’. There is no real rhyme or reason to it. So quote ‘you tell me’. He is already in a bit of a negative frame of mind.”
Ryan Lavner wanted more ‘in-depth’ Scottie Scheffler response on TPC Sawgrass
Scheffler has, of course, set the bar extremely high in recent times, having dominated the PGA Tour in 2024 with seven wins.
But that means he has not only put a target on his back in terms of the other players, but that he will also believe he is capable of reaching those heights once more in 2025.
That is certainly possible, but it may just take a bit of time after the American’s season was delayed due to hand surgery.
He has made a very bright start to 2025, but some form of anger was seemingly expressed after his latest round, with Lavner continuing: “I then jump in with what was seemingly a benign question about the golf course and when I have been walking around the golf course in the previous couple of days I was very surprised by how soft TPC Sawgrass had played.
“We have had abundant sunshine and a little bit of wind the past couple days. This is a golf course which drains exceedingly well. Yes, we did have plenty of rain in the Ponte Vedra area on Sunday and Monday but it is still very soft.
“It doesn’t matter if you are hitting a five wood like we saw Collin Morikawa hit on eight or Harris English stopping a five iron almost immediately.
“It doesn’t matter what club you are hitting into the greens, the ball is essentially landing and stopping and if not spinning a bit back.
“So my question, seemingly innocent and innocuous to Scottie Scheffler, was are you surprised at this point after all the sunshine that the golf course has not firmed up more.
“He apparently thought I was writing a story about the golf course, which I cannot stress enough, if I am writing about a golf course we have nothing to talk about and that’s basically a me problem basically just making conversation.
“He said I am not going to bite on that storyline. I said okay and shrugged it off. I would have appreciated a more in-depth answer.”
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