Scottie Scheffler left no doubt, that his three-week absence from the game hasn’t impacted him at all, when he began his round at the PGA Championship 2024 with an eagle hole out from the first fairway. From that on he worked his way up the leaderboard, but even the world number 1 wasn’t immune to some setbacks. “I made some sloppy errors”, Scheffler said after his round. He lost his first shot on hole 5, after he missed the green. Another bogey occurred on hole 14 after a three-putt. But he also added four birdies into the mix and thus signed a 4-under-67.
This puts him in the top 10, five shots behind leader Xander Schauffele.
Scottie Scheffler has ARRIVED.#PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/Ky3KNeGNb6
— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 16, 2024
Scottie Scheffler on his first round of the PGA Championship 2024
Q. Tell me about the eagle first.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: It was a stock 9-iron. I was trying to hit it right at the pin because I felt like if I hit it the right way, the shortest it was going to go was on the pin. I felt like it was going to go a little past the pin if anything, and it was nice to see that one go in, obviously.
Q. Is there pressure when you come on the course and there’s a 9-under?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I mean, there’s nothing I can do. Xander went out and played a great round this morning and I’m not really going to worry about trying to shoot 9-under. I’m just going to go out and try to hit good shots and play my own game.
Q. It looked like you had a game plan for these conditions during the practice rounds and it kind of worked today. So what were the things that you would like to improve?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I’d like to clean up a few of the mistakes. I missed two putts I felt like I should have holed today, but that’s going to happen when the greens get a little chewed up.
Q. So the last thing is, the things that you want to work on, part of your routine to prepare for the next few days?
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER: Yeah, I’m just going to go hit a few balls, hit a couple putts and try to get to sleep as quickly as I can tonight. I felt like there was a couple things I can clean up going into tomorrow, but overall today was a solid round.