Scottie Scheffler arrived at the 2026 WM Phoenix Open as a two-time tournament champion after a dominant victory at the American Express in the first tournament of the season, and many were handing him the trophy before the event even began. Scheffler’s birdie on the first hole only reinforced that concept, but it was a great result for the world’s No. 1 golfer, who ended up signing with a 2-over 73, his first round over par since June 2025.
Scheffler has posted 33 consecutive rounds of par or better on the PGA Tour over the past eight months. Only one of those rounds was in the 70s, the opening 18 holes of the Procore Championship (’70), the tournament he ultimately won. This performance dates back to the third round of the Travelers Championship last June, when Scheffler shot a 2-over 72 at TPC River Highlands.
Paid partner Chris Gotterup started the tournament with a bogey-free 63 to take the first round lead and put him 10 strokes behind the world’s best player. According to Justin Ray, this is the first time Scheffler has lost a round to his opponent since Rickie Fowler lost more than 10 strokes in a round at the 2021 Texas Open.
Scheffler had five birdies, five bogeys and one double bogey on his Thursday morning scorecard. He didn’t make his first par on the par-4 until the fifth hole, his 14th since teeing off on the back nine. Known as the rebound king, he experienced the opposite effect with three birdies followed by a bogey.
Despite early struggles, Scheffler was 2 under through his first eight holes, thanks to good use of both the par-5s on the back nine and the driveable par-4 17th. Only then did the wheels come off. A series of self-inflicted acts of self-harm, such as missing short putts near the turn, leaving chips at his feet, and being out of position, resulted in bogeys, bogeys, and double bogeys. A final bogey on the par-4 eighth was on the scorecard, but he got up to see his chip climb toward the pin again.
It would be no exaggeration to say that it was a day like no other for Schaeffler. He struggled with a left-handed error off the tee, and Scheffler found the water with his driver on the 11th, but struggled with distance control with his irons and sometimes mishit shots around the green in an uncomfortable manner.
He’ll have a chance to screw the wheels on Friday and move toward the cut line. Scheffler currently holds the longest streak on the PGA Tour after Xander Schauffele withdrew from last week’s Farmers Insurance Open.
