Despite saying he was "shaking off a little bit of rust" as he arrived in Houston, Scottie Scheffler showed very few signs of it as he shot a PGA Tour record 28th consecutive round under par on Thursday.
The World No.1 carded a five-under 65 in the opening round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open, with the PGA Tour confirming that 28 straight rounds under par was the longest run they had on record since starting to collect such data in 1983.
After winning at Bay Hill and The Players Championship, Scheffler is bidding to become the first man since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win three consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
And his campaign got off to a fine start as he sits just a shot off the lead after a bogey-free effort in his record-setting round.
Whatever rust there was was shown in the rare sight of Scheffler missing the first three greens of the day - and going on to hit just 11 of 18, considerably down on his usual efforts as the elite ball striker on tour.
In an ominous sign for the rest of the field though, the 27-year-old ranked sixth in stroke gained putting and took just 25 putts all day.
Scheffler also seems to be completely over the neck problems that almost saw him pull out of The Players before going on to become the first ever back-to-back winner at TPC Sawgrass.
"Neck's feeling better, body feels good," he said after his opening round in Houston.
With his opening-round 65 (-5) at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Scottie Scheffler now has 28 consecutive rounds under par on the PGA TOUR, the most on record (since 1983). pic.twitter.com/J0qqaVrAszMarch 28, 2024
"The off week was good for me to get some rest, get some rehab. I took a couple more days off than I typically would last week, so it was some good recovery time."
Although born in New Jersey, Scheffler is now a proud Texan hoping to grab his first strokeplay victory in his now home state.
And obviously not a superstitious character, Scheffler had no qualms about shaving off the beard he sported for back-to-back tournament wins - not being concerned at all that it could damage his hat-trick bid.
"It was nice because I didn't have to think about it, but then my beard got so long that it became work," he joked.
"Last week I got a haircut and I was thinking about trying to trim it and I didn't really know how, so I just shaved it."
Scheffler will also take next week off to prepare for The Masters, when he'll hope to make a similar rusty start to his bid to win a second Green Jacket at Augusta.
