Scottie Scheffler Strong Contender at PGA Championship

As it stands, Scottie Scheffler is one back of Bryson DeChambeau in a frost-delayed start at the PGA Championship at Oak Hill Golf Club in Pittsford, NY.

Scheffler, who seemed to be behind a tree, in the rough, or bouncing his ball off the side of a bunker during his round, managed to get through Thursday at 3-under par.  Amazingly he had no bogeys. He slogged his way through a tough golf course, and, after finishing, looked fresh enough to go another 18 if he had to.

“Getting around with no bogeys was really good,” he said when he finished. “I mean, that’s pretty much how I shot 3-under. There’s not really many birdie opportunities out there.”

He said he got momentum after hole number four, a par 5, because he survived pulling a drive and causing a real problem for himself.

“I went up against a tree and actually got the ball back into play somehow, which was a great shot,” he added.

To hit the shot from behind the tree in the rough, he braced himself against the tree trunk and took a whack.

"“You would hate to bogey a par-5, especially when there’s only two of them around this place,” he said. “That was good momentum. I used that to close out the round pretty strong.”"

He was lucky it was a par five and that he was able to create a par from the location of his drive.

After that, he proceeded to birdie the 5th, a par three, and the 8th, a par four, and he had already birdied the drivable par four, the 14th. His portion of the morning wave played the back nine of the course first.

Scottie Scheffler was glad to have completed his round up today.

“I felt like today there wasn’t as much wind, and tomorrow it looked like the wind is going to be blowing 10 to 20,” he noted.

While Scottie Scheffler said he prefers this kind of tough golf as opposed to a birdie fest, he also said he didn’t think he could do it every week.

"“I don’t think mentally I would be able to handle playing a tournament like this every single week out here on Tour.”"

Half the field will complete round one today.  The afternoon groups will not finish until tomorrow morning, and then they will have to start their second rounds with little rest.

Meanwhile, today’s morning group can lollygag a bit. They don’t start round two until middle to late afternoon on Friday, and most will not finish until sometime Saturday morning.

That’s when we will have the cut, top 70 and ties, and when we find out who played their way in or out of a chance to win the PGA.