Scottie Scheffler gave himself an “extra bit of grace” at RBC Heritage. Why wouldn’t he? Here is what his past four results look like: 1, 1, T2, 1. From Bay Hill to Augusta, Scheffler has blazed a red-hot trail. Even Wyndham Clark, who has threatened Scheffler’s dominance the most, admitted there was a wide gap between the nine-time PGA tour winner and the rest of the field. 

But here is the thing: Scottie Scheffler is of flesh and blood, even though his staggering consistency might suggest otherwise. And fatigue catches him up as well. But then again, Scheffler is quicker to shrug it off than anyone else. Exactly what he did at Hilton Head.

Scottie Scheffler was drained but is now ready to fire up

The reigning Masters champion took time to settle down at the Pete Dye layout. Scheffler opened his round with a par-save and followed it up with a birdie. But on par 4, on the 3rd hole, the World No. 1 shanked from the fairway bunker, eventually, three-putting from 50 feet. Scheffler doesn’t hide that it was a “mental lapse.”The 27-year-old admitted he was, “emotionally a little bit drained. Mentally definitely a bit drained.”

In fact, he wasn’t “quite into the competition” at first; he didn’t do the “normal amount of work” on the greens before Thursday. But that double-bogey slapped the tournament mentality into him. Scottie Scheffler saved par in the front nine and picked a birdie on the par-3 7th. On the back nine, the World No. 1 made two late birdies on the 16th and 17th, to close at 2-under 69. Scheffler is T26, heading to Friday. 

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“I think it’s — I feel like I had more energy now than I did at the beginning of the day waking up to go play golf, if that makes sense. I think getting into the tournament, hitting some shots, getting a bit frustrated, getting a bit excited about my finish there, all good emotions to feel. It’s nice to be kind of back into tournament mode.”

Although his neck seems to have flared up again, whenever Scheffler, has been in ‘tournament mode’, he has made himself the first suitor for the trophy. Six shots off the lead with three days to go, it won’t be surprising to witness another Sawgrass-like comeback at Harbour Town Golf Links. Scheffler knows how to separate himself from the pack, and here he is using the opening round frustration as a launching pad. 

Frustration is good if you can use it well

The World No. 1 once again reached the bunker at par 4, 11th. Standing 48 ft. from the pin, Scheffler’s pitching wedge flung the ball 65 ft. into the left fairway. The former Texas Longhorn thrashed his wedge on the sand. Frustration was high in the middle of the round, he admitted. But the next shot was his proudest moment of the first round. He saved par from 16 feet.

Asked whether frustration makes it hard to grind, Scheffler said in the post-round media interaction, “Maybe a little bit, but I think sometimes that frustration from not playing my best I think kind of helps me focus sometimes. You can use that as good energy and you can use that as bad energy, so I tried to use it as best I could for the good stuff today.”

Scheffler was T11 last year, his RBC Heritage debut. Heading to Friday, the world No. 1 believes he can better that this April. In a course that generously rewards the precision of drivers more than clubhead speed, the two-time Major champion is T3 in driving accuracy and 7th in SG: Off the Tee.