Riding on the back of a fresh victory, Scottie Scheffler entered the Bellerive Country Club as the clear, runaway favorite but struggled in round 1 of the BMW Championship. Speaking at a press conference after completing his second round on Friday, the World No. 1 shed some light on his struggles. When one reporter asked Scheffler what he found different between Thursday’s and Friday’s performances, Scheffler was honest.
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“I didn’t get off to a good start today either, but did a good job of fighting back. I made a good bogey there on 6, nice birdie on 7, good par on 9, and was able to get some momentum on the back,” he said.
Scheffler had a very poor start by his standards. He opened the tournament on Thursday with four bogeys on the front nine, three of which came back-to-back on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th holes. He bogeyed the opening hole of the back nine, then recovered with two birdies, finishing the round 2-over par 72.
Friday brought no relief. Scheffler faced damage control, opening with a bogey before recovering with a birdie on the second. He added another bogey on the sixth but recovered with a birdie on the seventh. The back nine was mistake-free: five birdies, including back-to-back birdies on holes 10 and 11, and 13 and 14, to finish 5-under 70.
Despite the turnaround, the World No. 1 admitted that he still isn’t where he wants to be.
“… I’m not where I would like to be,” he added. “But, yeah, I had a good — I’ll probably have to have four nines as I did on the back nine today, and that will give me a chance to win. So hopefully do more what did I on the back over the course of the next 36.”
But there’s a reason the 30-year-old’s rounds were bad: a sudden fever. When a reporter asked whether he was sick on Friday, Scheffler revealed he hadn’t been feeling his best since Thursday.
“I wasn’t feeling 100% yesterday. I’m still not feeling 100% today. So I’ll go home and get some rest.”
Thanks to his FedEx Cup standing, Scheffler is eligible to enter the Tour Championship next week. Yet, finishing outside the top 20 this week could be a blow to his morale, especially after just winning the St. Jude Championship. Either way, the top 30 players will get the opportunity to compete next week at East Lake for a share of the $40 million prize pool.
At the time of writing, Wyndham Clark and J.J. Spaun are tied for first place, one shot ahead of South Korea’s Im Sung-jae. If Scheffler wants to stand a chance of winning, he will have to bring his A-game tomorrow.