LOS ANGELES (AP) — Scottie Scheffler gently raised his fist as he barely sank his final putt on the 18th hole at Riviera, a typical reaction when he wins most tournaments. The difference Friday was the putt that gave him his number at the Genesis Invitational.
A slow start for the third week in a row meant Scheffler had to make a 7-foot par putt on a green that was frighteningly soft and fast. He shot a 3-under 68 through two rounds at Riviera for an even-par 142.
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The Genesis Invitational is one of three signature $20 million events in which the top 50 and ties and anyone within 10 strokes of the leader qualify through 36 holes. The 10-stroke rule was broken when Marco Penge birdied five of his final seven holes for a 64 to finish at 12-under 130.
“It was nice to be able to hole the putt and get two more cracks on the course,” Scheffler said. “My day didn’t start the way I wanted, but yeah, I struggled and it looks like I’m going to have to fight a few more rounds to see what I can do.”
“Fight” is a word Scheffler uses more than he would like to use these days.
He opened the Phoenix Open with a 2-over 73 to put himself just outside the cut, but responded with a 65 to end the week one shot shy of the playoffs. He opened with a 72 at Pebble Beach last week and was 13 shots behind on Friday. He shot 67-63 over the weekend and was once tied for the lead.
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This week is different, mostly because Scheffler doesn’t have a stellar history at Riviera.
“I don’t know,” he said. “This place and I have a weird relationship. I feel like I can play well here, but I haven’t done it yet.”
Scheffler’s best week in five previous starts at Riviera left him seven shots off the lead. The other four times he was nine shots behind. So when he posted 18 consecutive top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour, it wasn’t a course to get behind.
Alas, he had two birdies on Friday morning to finish the rain-delayed first round with a 74 to tie his best score at Riviera. This is the first time since Scheffler’s rookie season in 2020 that he failed to break par in the first round of three consecutive games.
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“I’m not going to say anything,” he said when asked what caused him to suddenly be so far behind. “I think in the last two tournaments, it’s never been the easiest to tee off late and I’ve had a slow start. It was very challenging for us to tee off on this golf course yesterday.”
Indeed. Rain in the morning caused a three-hour delay, and in the afternoon a cold gust of wind blew in, leaving greens soft enough to clog and fast enough to require caution.
“You don’t want to have 3, 3 1/2 feet back,” Scheffler said. “Yesterday was definitely a day where I didn’t have anyone in. It was nice to get out this morning and hit some fresh greens, make some putts and do what I need to do to get into the weekend.”
It’s not just on the greens, however.
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Scheffler has missed half the fairway in each of the past two rounds. On Thursday, he missed the second green with a shot from the left rough halfway up the right side. Starting out of the right rough on Friday, he missed a chance to hit left and ended up near the 10th tee.
But he did enough right to extend his streak to 68 events (since the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August 2022), the longest streak on tour.
Scheffler hit his shot to 3 feet for birdie on No. 9 with 10 holes left to move to 4 over. He hit a perfect 3-footer for birdie on the 10th hole. On the par-5 11th hole, he chipped in short for birdie. He made his final birdie on the par-5 17th hole from a greenside bunker. Just as crucially, there were no bogeys.
“I pretty much knew I had to at least get to the level of what it was,” Scheffler said. “So, yeah, just trying to do what I can.”
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AP Golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
