Scottie Scheffler entered the Hero World Challenge with a new putting grip and thought that he had improved enough to be happy with his performance, finishing at 5-under 67 on Thursday, 3 shots behind Cameron Young.
Young, who had not played since the BMW Championship almost 3 months prior, had a tremendous deal of success on and around the Albany Golf Course’s greens. He chipped superbly and made 4 birdie putts from 15 feet or more for his 64.
In his first match since the birth of his daughter a few weeks prior, he was ahead of Justin Thomas by 2 shots. Late in his round, Thomas made 4 consecutive birdies and came within a hair’s breadth of a 5th.
The biggest surprise was Scheffler, the top-ranked golfer, who won 8 games, including an Olympic gold medal, and played as brilliantly as he has all year. There is no match for his iron play. He has occasionally been prevented from winning more or greater by his putting. In order to try a “saw” putting grip from a distance of not more than 20 feet, he placed the shaft between his thumb and fingers ; with his left index finger pointing down the shaft.
“I’m constantly trying to get better.” Scheffler said.
According to Scheffler, who started training with famous putting coach Phil Kenyon last year, Kenyon brought up the alternate putting grip at that time.
“However, this was actually our first time working together, and it’s not like anything I’ve done before,” Scheffler stated. I had occasionally considered it this year, and we decided to table it for the conclusion of the season so that you could have a look at it. I decided that this week would be an excellent time to experiment.” Scheffler said.
He missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the third par-5 after opening with a wedge to 2 feet. However, he saved par on the 9th hole with a sliding 6-footer and made a birdie from around the same distance on the next par 5, No. 6.
His final hole included his longest putt, a 12-foot final birdie.
“It was a really pleasant feeling. I had the impression that my stroke was getting better.” he said.
And his short game was spot on this particular day. On a perfect day in the Bahamas, he made bogey-free rounds, barely struggling to save par twice and continuing to rack up birdies.
Since there wasn’t much wind, there wasn’t much worry.
Patrick Cantlay was at 67 with Ludvig Åberg, Akshay Bhatia, and Sahith Theegala, and Scheffler was playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup.
Additionally, Thomas used this opportunity to try out some new tactics against a 20-man pitch. In an attempt to increase speed, he was using a 46-inch driver at home, which was slightly longer than his usual driver by more than an inch. He chose to use it on a windless day on a golf course where there was some space off the tee.
“I simply need to get the club out in front of me and get a little more on top of it since it’s a little bit longer. It was wonderful to try something different and have it go a little bit better on the rear since I drove the hell out of it there.” Thomas said.
According to Thomas, the longer driver provides him 10 extra yards in the air and 2 or 3 mph in ball speed.
“Although it’s highly course-specific, I gave it a shot.” he said.
Only four players in the field failed to break par due to the easy conditions, with Jason Day finishing last with a 75.
