Even though Scheffler’s start to the season has been slow by his lofty standards, he remains the man to beat.
Hampered initially by a hand injury sustained when trying to roll out ravioli with a wine glass on Christmas Day, the 28-year-old American arrived at Augusta feeling he is peaking at the right time.
Scheffler finished joint runner-up in Houston two weeks ago and, with the major season getting under way at the Masters, laid down another warning to his rivals that he is finding form.
While not at his clinical best, he has put himself in a strong position with a bogey-free round – and, ominously for his rivals, has the capacity to go further through the gears over the next three days.
His driving and iron approaches were solid, enhanced by converting a couple of lengthy putts.
Scheffler set the tone with a confident birdie putt on the second, landing a monster from 62 feet on the fourth – sending the patrons into raptures – and adding another shorter one on the ninth.
The two-time champion’s first real mistake of the day came when he lipped out from seven feet on the 13th and had to settle for a par.
But he made amends by holing from 42 feet for a two on the par-three 16th.
“I felt pretty good. Anytime you can keep a card clean out here, it’s a really good thing,” Scheffler said.
“I had to make two really good up-and-downs. But other than that, the golf course was in front of me most of the day, kept the ball in play, did a lot of really good things out there.”
