Defending champion Scottie Scheffler carded a 68 yesterday, putting himself in an ideal Day 1 position to win a third green jacket.
Scheffler went bogey-free, just as he did in the first round a year ago, making him just the fourth defending Masters champion to open his week with a bogeyless round in the last 30 years. That, however, has not been an omen of victory. None of the previous three — Jose Maria Olazabal in 1995, Jordan Spieth in 2016 or Tiger Woods in 2020 — went on to win.
Scheffler lost about half a stroke to the field with his ball striking in Round 1 of the 2020 Masters, his tournament debut. He hasn’t had negative strokes gained in that metric a single round since — 20 consecutive rounds of his off-the-tee and approach play being better than average at Augusta National.
Scheffler now boasts a first-round scoring average of 69.2 at the Masters, the best in tournament history for anyone with at least five starts.