2022 Genesis Invitational: Top 10 power rankings at Riviera CC
Scottie Scheffler finally pulled one in. The former world No. 1 amateur, elite collegian at Texas, and former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year won his first PGA Tour title last week at the WM Phoenix Open.
The 25-year-old claimed he didn’t fixate on getting that first victory.
“To be honest with you, I don’t really think about it too often,” Scheffler was quoted by ASAP Sports. “For me, I just like trying to improve. I like trying to get better. I like playing golf out here. It’s fun for me. I feel like it’s where I’m meant to be. So for me I’m just trying to prepare and get ready. The only time I really think about it is when you guys ask me these kind of questions.”
The next question will be when Scheffler will pick off his first major.
The sky is the limit for a guy who can stripe the ball with power and is solid on and around the greens.
He fired 68-71 the first two days at TPC Scottsdale to make the cut by a shot. A nine-shot improvement on Saturday left him two shots off the course record. It pulled him within two shots going to Sunday.
Scheffler never led outright in regulation and was even-par on the front nine. Needing to make something happen, he birdied four of the last five holes and Cantlay parred the last three to lead to a playoff.
Scheffler led the field in birdies (26), was second in putts per green in regulation (1.661), second in strokes gained putting (6.494), and fourth in SG off the tee (5.226).
He now comes to the Genesis Invitational for the third time. Scheffler debuted with T-30th (69-72-71-70) in 2020 and improved to T-20th (67-74-74-66) in 2021. He also competed at Riviera in 2017 at the U.S. Amateur where he missed out in a playoff to advance to match play.
Having a good short game at Riviera is crucial. Scheffler was fourth in the field last year in SG around the green (3.006). Unfortunately, he was 54th in SG putting (-.994), so a lot of that work was undone.
The Texan comes to Pacific Palisades on a streak of four top-25s and six made cuts. This season, he took solo fourth at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, T-2nd at the Hewlett Packard Enterprise Houston Open, and solo second at the exhibition Hero World Challenge.
He can make birdies in bunches, ranking seventh on the PGA Tour in birdie average (4.39) in 2020-21. Scheffler was also 21st in SG tee to green (.909), the same place he finished in the final FedEx Cup standings.
I expect him to do even more damage at East Lake this year. A high finish at Riviera will be a good table-setter.