You would have to go back to January 2021 for the last time Scottie Scheffler failed to break 70 in his opening round in three successive tournaments.
Scottie Scheffler goes into Sunday at the Genesis Invitational 14 shots off the lead. Much of the damage was done during his first round, with the world number one posting a 74.
Scheffler said he struggled in the conditions on Thursday at Riviera, with the 29-year-old sitting at five over par after 10 holes before play was suspended for the day.
Are you concerned about Scottie Scheffler right now?
He is really struggling with his first rounds right now…
And ahead of his final round, Scheffler has suggested how concerned he is about the problems he seems to be having flying out of the blocks at the start of the 2026 season.
“I think it’s just a matter of coming out and competing each day. Some days it’s going to go well and other days it’s not going to go well. You look at three tournaments in a row, I haven’t started off that good. When you look at it like from a macro view, it’s such a small sample size. I played now 11 rounds the last few weeks and I had eight pretty solid ones and three I’d like to have back,” he said.
“So overall I feel like my game’s in a good spot. Got a few things that I need to clean up, but overall I feel I’m continuing to trend in the right direction.”
How Scottie Scheffler’s form compares with his final eight tournaments in 2025
Scheffler has now posted three rounds in the 70s in the 2026 season. He has left himself with work to do to make the cut at the WM Phoenix Open, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, and now the Genesis Invitational.
That is just not supposed to happen to the four-time major champion.
In fact, Scheffler has begun the 2026 season with a greater number of rounds in the 70s than he posted in his final eight tournaments of 2025.
The two final rounds of 2025 that saw Scottie Scheffler fail to break 70
Scheffler shot a 72 during the third round of the Travelers Championship to fall out of the lead.
Meanwhile, he would not fail to break 70 again until the first round of the Procore Championship. Scheffler almost certainly would not have played in Napa if it was not a Ryder Cup year.
And of course, he went on to win the event anyway.
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Some may be worried about Scheffler. But as he suggests, he is still playing a lot of good golf right now.
He was one shot away from making a playoff in Phoenix, while he set the clubhouse lead late on Sunday at Pebble Beach.
Scheffler will almost certainly figure it out at some stage. The rest of the PGA Tour is in trouble when he does.
