AUGUSTA — Scottie Scheffler appears to be finding his game at the right time.
It was just one round, but it was a very good one to open his defense of the Masters on Thursday at Augusta National, a 4-under-par 68 that saw Scheffler make four birdies and no bogeys.
“I felt pretty good. Anytime you can keep a card clean out here, it's a really good thing,” Scheffler said. “I struggled for what felt like two pars today. I had to make two really good up-and-downs. But other than that, the golf course was in front of me most of the day, kept the ball in play, did a lot of really good things out there.”
Scheffler has been working to regain the form he had in 2024 when he won seven times on the PGA Tour, including the Masters, the Players Championship and the Tour Championship as well as the Olympic gold medal.
A Christmas mishap that cut his right hand meant surgery and a missed month of action, with Scheffler having to catch up to be ready for the year’s first major.
He tied for second two weeks ago at the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
“I think that was more the nature of just the time that I’ve had to get ready for the tournament post-injury I would say,” he said. “As far as my preparation went, I wasn’t doing anything different, I was just able to get more and more reps in. Just through time, I felt more prepared than I did for any other tournament.”
Scheffler made birdies at the 2nd, 4th, 8th and 16th holes, failing to birdie the 13th and 15th, the two par-5s on the final nine.
He hit 10 of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens and needed just 26 putts, twice getting up and down from bunkers.
When he was finished, Scheffler was in a tie for second with Corey Conners, three shots behind Justin Rose, who was still on the course.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Scottie Scheffler Begins Masters Title Defense With Bogey-Free 68.
