Scottie Scheffler Fires 69 in First Round of The Masters

The world's No. 1 player was tied for the lead one point during Thursday's opening round at Augusta National

Scottie Scheffler started his pursuit of his first Masters title with a 3-under par 69 on a Thursday in which he made his debut as the world’s No. 1-ranked player.

The former Longhorn nearly had a bogey-free round but was unable to get up and down from an errant second shot on No. 18. At the time, the bogey prevented him from finishing the day in a tie for the overall lead.

By the end of the day he was tied for third place with England’s Danny Willett, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann and Dustin Johnson. Korea’s Sungjae Im held the lead after the first round with a 5-under-par 67. Right behind him at 4-under-par 68 was Cameron Smith of Australia.

Scheffler put together a solid round, with three birdies in a five-hole stretch in the middle of his round. His putter was in fine shape throughout and bailed him out on a few holes where his approach shots either missed the green or found a bunker. And, like many players on Thursday, he needed time to adjust to greens that had softened due to rain on Wednesday and Thursday, which pushed back his tee time by a half-hour.

Scheffler assumed the world’s No. 1 ranking after his win at the World Golf Championships Match Play in Austin two weeks ago. It was his third PGA Tour title in five starts. Scheffler is trying to become the first player to make the Masters his first win after becoming the No. 1-ranked player since Ian Woosnam did it in 1991.

Scheffler also caught a bit of a break, in terms of attention, as his tee time was directly behind that of five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods, who was making his first appearance in a tournament in 16 months since his car accident. That had the impact of siphoning off much of the crowd that would normally follow a Masters favorite like Scheffler.

Woods ended up shooting a 1-under 71.

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Scheffler parred the first seven holes of his round, relying on escape shots and his putter to get up-and-down for par on Nos. 1, 4 and 7. He also missed opportunities for birdie, most notably a short putt at No. 2 that came up just short and a 10-footer above the hole at No. 3 that also came up short.

His escape at No. 7 was perhaps his best of the day. His tee shot strayed left into the trees and he hit a 200-yard punch shot into the front bunker. From there Scheffler blasted out to about seven feet above the hole and eased in a par putt.

At No. 8, a gentle dogleg right par-5, Scheffler put himself on the edge of the green of the 580-yard hole in two shots and two-putted uphill for his first birdie. He then carried that momentum to No. 9, where a 384-yard tee shot on the par-4 left him a 99-yard pitch shot, which he threw past the hole and spun back to within 12 feet of the cup. He flushed the putt for his second straight birdie. At the time, Scheffler was one shot back of the lead.

On No. 10, he flew his approach 33 feet back of the pin and two-putted for par. At No. 11, he parred again, but not before flying his approach shot well left of the green, in the same area were Larry Mize chipped in during a playoff with Greg Norman to win the 1987 Masters. Scheffler hit a beautiful pitch that checked to within 10 feet of the cup to set up another par.

At No. 12, the course’s most famous par-3, he hit his tee shot on the 155-yard hole to within 19 feet to the left of the cup. Scheffler drained the gentle left-to-right putt to move to 3-under, moving him briefly into a tie for the lead.

He missed scoring opportunities on the back nine, though. He parred both of the back nine’s signature par-5’s, No. 13 and No. 15, holes where players tend to pick up a shot or two. At No. 13, Scheffler missed a 16-foot uphill birdie putt. At No. 15 he had to lay up on his second shot, but his approach finished 13 feet below the hole. He missed that birdie attempt, too. By then, Scheffler was three shots back of the lead.

Down the stretch Scheffler worked to make sure he didn’t lose any more ground. At No. 16, his tee shot finished 43 feet away from the cup and on the bottom half of the two-tiered green. He was able to make a run at the cup and two-putted for par.

He picked up a birdie at No. 17 to briefly move to 4-under, thanks to an approach that left him within 15 feet and in perfect position to roll home the birdie.

His finishing hole left much to be desired. He sprayed his tee shot into the second cut of grass on the left-hand side of the fairway. His second shot ended up in the gallery past the green. His chip shot checked up to 15 feet from the cup, and his par attempt finished on the high side of the cup, leading to bogey. It was the only time he wasn’t able to scramble for par on the day.

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You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.

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