Scottie Scheffler’s bid to grow to be the primary participant to win three consecutive PGA Tour occasions for seven years began impressively with a bogey-free 65 in the course of the opening spherical on the Texas Kids’s Houston Open.
The in-form world No 1 has received on his final two appearances, on the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Gamers Championship, and is aiming to grow to be the primary participant since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win on three consecutive appearances on the tour in his ultimate outing earlier than The Masters, stay from April 11-14 on Sky Sports activities.
Scheffler, who had shaved off his beard since his Sawgrass triumph, began on the tenth and missed his first three greens, however picked up photographs on the thirteenth and seventeenth to succeed in the flip at two underneath.
A birdie on the par-three second was adopted by two extra within the subsequent three holes as Scheffler completed at 5 underneath, one shot behind clubhouse chief Taylor Moore who set the tempo amongst these out early.
“I had a strong spherical. Bogey-free is all the time good, particularly round a golf course like this,” Scheffler informed reporters. “It’s good to have the ability to hold the cardboard clear.”
It was the American’s twenty eighth consecutive spherical underneath par to start out the yr, which the PGA Tour has confirmed is essentially the most on report since 1983.
Scheffler had been fighting a neck drawback at Sawgrass, the place a closing 64 noticed him take the title by one stroke, however hopes he’s now on the mend.
“(The) neck is feeling higher, physique feels good. The off week was good for me to get some relaxation, get some rehab,” he mentioned.
“I took a pair extra days off than I sometimes would final week, so it was some good restoration time.”
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
Padraig Harrington hit an unimaginable shot whereas on his knees when his ball discovered a tree on the par-5 sixteenth gap on the Texas Kids’s Houston Open.
Moore, defending champion final week on the Valspar Championship, had began his spherical with a bogey, however quickly constructed some momentum following an eagle on the par-five third to show in 31. A pair extra birdies noticed him dwelling at six underneath and into the clubhouse lead.
“After the primary gap, simply tried to see what number of greens I might hit,” Moore mentioned. “Received off to just a little little bit of a bounce begin there on 3, chipped in for eagle and birdied 4. Simply bought into the spherical.”
Davis Riley and Joe Highsmith additionally sat alongside Scheffler in a tie for second, whereas England’s Aaron Rai was amongst a gaggle of gamers from the early starters at 4 underneath.
Watch the Texas Kids’s Houston Open all stay on Sky Sports activities. Early protection of the second spherical begins on Friday from 12.30pm on Sky Sports activities Golf, forward of full protection from 8pm. The Masters is then completely stay from April 11-14 completely on Sky Sports activities. Stream the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, majors and more with NOW.
Get Sky Sports activities on WhatsApp
Now you can obtain messages and alerts for the most recent breaking sports activities information, evaluation, in-depth options and movies from our devoted WhatsApp channel. Find out more here…
Get the perfect costs and guide a spherical at one in all 1,700 programs throughout the UK & Eire