Scottie Scheffler Makes Worst Ever PGA Tour Start As First-Round Struggles Continue At Riviera

Scottie Scheffler's run of troubling first rounds continued as he made his worst ever 10-hole start on the PGA Tour at the Genesis Invitational

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Scottie Scheffler in action at the first round of Genesis Invitational at Riviera
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Slow starts have become a theme recently for Scottie Scheffler of late, but he's made his worst one ever on the PGA Tour during the rain affected first round of the Genesis Invitational.

It's a rare sight to see the World No.1 at the bottom of a leaderboard, but he was propping up the field when play was stopped on the first day at a sodden Riviera Country Club.

Scheffler made three bogeys and a double bogey in an error-strewn start at Riviera to sit on five over for 10 holes, which stats guru Justin Ray reliably informed us all was his worst ever return.

His next worst was a four-over start after 10 holes of the 2014 Byron Nelson - when Scheffler was a mere 17-year-old amateur just starting out on what would build into an amazing career.

And it's the four-time Major champion's dominant displays of brilliant consistency that make any big mishaps like Thursday at Riviera headline news in golfing circles.

Even if Scheffler can rescue the situation on Friday, it still marks three first rounds in a row for him, after also starting slowly at the WM Phoenix Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

We also have to emphasize these are bad starts for Scheffler, given his insane level of production - as on the face of things shooting 73 at TPC Scottsdale and 72 at Pebble Beach aren't exactly disasters.

Phoenix was a bad round statistically for Scheffler. It snapped a run of 33 straight rounds under par and he showed rare signs of frustration after some basic errors.

He came roaring back both times though to finish T3 and T4 and make it an amazing 18 consecutive top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour - the most since Billy Casper's 17 in 1964-65.

So he'll likely not stay at the foot of the leaderboard much longer, but he already has a lot of ground to make up on clubhouse leader Rory McIlroy, who made his best ever start to the tournament.

The Northern Irishman is making his 10th start at Riviera and carded a five-under round of 66 as he navigated the tough conditions with just one bogey.

Jacob Bridgeman was the only man who could match McIlroy's 66, but England's Aaron Rai could top him as he sat on six under after 16 holes.

Paul Higham
Paul Higham
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Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush. 

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