Scottie Scheffler’s blunder has entire Tour Championship field in the mix

ATLANTA — Scottie Scheffler had management of the Tour Championship on the entrance 9, however the again 9 was a totally completely different story.

A disastrous one, actually.

On the eleventh tee, Scheffler was 3-under for his spherical, going alongside properly, and had management of the event at 13-under total.

Then he three-putted the eleventh inexperienced, a harbinger of issues to return 4 holes later.

On the par-3 fifteenth, which is sort of utterly surrounded by water, Scheffler hit it into the lake. It was such a foul swing that it didn’t even come near discovering dry land.

“I’m clearly fairly annoyed with how I performed right this moment,” Scheffler mentioned in his post-round interview.

After hitting his third shot onto the inexperienced, Scheffler once more three-putted, making a triple bogey six on the 211-yard par-3.

“I had a couple of 3-putts right this moment, which undoubtedly is irritating, after which I had the unhealthy swing there on the par-3 fifteenth,” Scheffler added.

In fact, Scheffler began the Tour Championship with a two-shot benefit at 10-under, due to his standing atop the FedEx Cup rating.

However now Collin Morikawa, Keegan Bradley, and Viktor Hovland share the lead at 10-under, whereas Scheffler sits at 9-under after carding a 1-over 71.

Photograph by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Pictures

“I attempt to strategy every spherical the identical method, however yeah, it’s a bit bizarre beginning a event with the lead,” Scheffler famous. “I assume it’s a bit of little bit of a blessing to have a fairly unhealthy day and nonetheless be within the event. So, yeah, I gotta go on the market [Friday] and preserve combating.”

Eventually 12 months’s Tour Championship, Scheffler started the event at 10-under and opened with a 5-under 65.

He got here nowhere near that Thursday, however fortunately for the Texan, he’s nonetheless in competition for the FedEx Cup. And contemplating he has hit the ball higher than anybody in 2023, one awful spherical won’t derail his possibilities of claiming the PGA Tour’s final prize.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in Via. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko for extra golf protection. You’ll want to take a look at @_PlayingThrough too.