And with the aim of definitely climbing back up the leaderboard, Scheffler showed off some of his signature grit and grind, clearly not playing his best, but managing to get nine pars in a row on his first nine holes at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
However, it was on the back nine when things started to get pear shaped for arguably the most in shape golfer in the world.
Consecutive bogeys on the first and second holes — his 10th and 11th — meant the 25-year-old was always catching up; but it only got worse from there.
A birdie at 13 gave Scheffler some hope, only for two bogeys in the next three holes that would really give Scheffler a scorching afternoon in Tulsa.
And just when it seemed like it couldn’t get any worse, he had the last hole of the nightmare.
On the ninth hole of par four, his tee shot landed in a bunker on the right side of the fairway, and the resulting bunker shot landed just to the left of the green.
His chipshot was a tad under-hit, landing just on the edge of the green and leaving him with a 15-foot putt for par.
Scheffler’s putt had to hit the hole to have a chance to play over the weekend, and Scheffler’s putt rolled just to the left of the hole, making it a tricky putt to save a bogey.
And it just wasn’t Scheffler’s day, as the bogey putt again just missed the hole, tapping in for a double bogey, completing his back nine in 40 strokes.
Scheffler finished the tournament with a five-over 75 and six-over. With the projected cut at four left, Scheffler will not play on Saturday and Sunday unless there was a significant run of high scores.
It is the first time this year that Scheffler has carded consecutive rounds over par.
