Scottie Scheffler started his WM Phoenix Open almost exactly how you would have expected. Drive in the fairway, wedge to 3 feet, birdie. Not a golf-loving soul on earth was surprised.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s what followed Thursday \u2014 in fact, what immediately followed \u2014 that was so stunning. Scheffler\u2019s next swing was tugged into the water hazard left of the 11th hole. He took a drop, played up to the hole and made a comfy bogey. Alright, moving on.<\/p>\n
But that was one of three separate instances during the first round where Scheffler followed a birdie with a bogey. The man whose best trait might be bogey avoidance was doing it at the exact moment when you\u2019d expect him to rush up the leaderboard. He certainly wasn\u2019t trying to, but doesn\u2019t it feel \u2026 puzzling? That\u2019s where we\u2019ve gotten to with the World No. 1<\/a>. His golf has become so consistently above average that, well, it\u2019s straight up bizarre when he dips significantly below average.\u00a0<\/p>\n Scheffler carded a two-over 73 Thursday, which leader Chris Gotterup<\/a> beat by 10 from within the same group. According to stats guru Justin Ray<\/a>, it\u2019s the first time Scheffler has been beaten by 10 or more strokes in a round by a playing partner since 2021.<\/p>\n So, what did it look like? Well, Scheffler botched a chip on the 18th hole, chunking it onto the green only to watch it roll back to his feet.\u00a0<\/p>\n One of my favorite things about mild mannered Scottie Scheffler is that he\u2019s an absolute psycho.<\/p>\n Brewing underneath the surface is a dude who hates hitting bad shots more than a typical person hates anything.<\/p>\n You know he wanted to break that club.<\/p>\n pic.twitter.com\/Kcw8uzaITK<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Rick Golfs (@Top100Rick) February 5, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n But that\u2019s not all. He flubbed another chip on the 8th, leaving it short of a ridge only to watch it roll back off the green. He\u2019d tap in for bogey, essentially ruining a streak of 33 straight rounds of par or better on the Tour. That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to point you, the smart golf viewer, toward today.\u00a0<\/p>\n Scottie Scheffler rarely ever has bad days. This was as bad as any he\u2019s had in the last 12 months on Tour. There was the third-round 72 he shot at the Travelers Championship last June, where he still rallied for a T6 finish. There was the third-round 76 he shot last year at Torrey Pines<\/a> in the Genesis Invitational. According to scoring average, both those days will end up registering similar to this one.<\/p>\n And besides that? Not another day on Tour in 12 months where Scheffler sagged down the leaderboard like this. Scheffler tugged a couple tee shots left, leading to dropped shots. If you\u2019re a pessimist, you might remember all those left misses during the final round of the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow<\/a>. But if you are an optimist, and you really should be, you\u2019d remember that just when things got tight at last year\u2019s PGA was when Scheffler turned it on, played perfect golf into the house and won by five.\u00a0<\/p>\n