Scottie Scheffler’s first-round struggles prove capability of world No. 1

Slow starts hampered Scottie Scheffler at the start of the 2026 PGA Tour season. You know it. He knows it. Everyone in the golf world knows this. Of course, “slow” and “hindered” are relative to what the world number 1 is capable of accomplishing.

Scheffler looked like a mid-handicap for 50% of the Genesis Invitational, but still finished T12 alongside Jordan Spieth, a player who posted his best tournament finish since June 2025. This isn’t a drive-by on Spieth; it’s an illustration of the fact that Scheffler’s performances are all based on perspective.

Scheffler went to bed Thursday night with no other name below him in the rankings. He played his first 10 holes of the tournament in 5 overs and was forced to make an 8-foot par putt on his 36th hole just to see hole No. 37 in a tournament where no one misses the cut. And yet he somehow threatened to extend his streak in the top 10 to 19 in a row… although he ultimately fell short, ending the longest streak on the PGA Tour.

Perspective!

Scheffler won in his season debut at American Express, becoming only the third player under 30 to achieve 20 PGA Tour victories and four major championships. The other two? Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus. Scheffler finished one shot out of the playoffs at the WM Phoenix Open after opening with a 73 that put him 10 shots behind his playing partner and eventual winner, Chris Gotterup.

A victory would have been Scheffler’s third at this tournament – ​​a mark that would have tied him with none other than Arnold Palmer for most of the event’s history.

After opening with a 72 in favorable conditions at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Scheffler closed with a 63 thanks to three final-round eagles, falling two shots behind eventual champion Collin Morikawa. A victory at Pebble Beach means something a little more. You look at the names. You look at this place. You read the story.

The same is true at Riviera Country Club, host of the Genesis Invitational, especially since it represents one of the three largest non-major tournaments on the PGA Tour calendar. Flagship events rule these days, but there are three tournaments with lasting power regardless of how the PGA Tour schedule evolves.

The Tiger tournament.

Arnie’s tournament.

Jack’s tournament.

Together, they make up the three major PGA Tour player-run invitational tournaments that, despite qualifying as marquee events, still have cuts at the 36-hole mark. Should they cut more than those who finish outside the top 50 and more than 10 shots behind the leader, especially when a field has only 72 players? Yes, but that’s a conversation for another day.

To win one is incredible. Just ask last week’s champion, Jacob Bridgeman. To win two is something really special. That’s exactly what many of the all-time greats did. But winning all three on these golf courses? That’s as rare as it gets when it comes to PGA Tour accolades, as only Fred Couples and Ernie Els have conquered the triumvirate (Hale Irwin won the 1976 Citrus Open at Rio Pinar Country Club, later called the Arnold Palmer Invitational).

Players to win at least two of the big three

There are stipulations for all of the names listed above — blame it on PGA Tour record-keeping — because Els, of course, did not receive a trophy from Woods. In fact, he ensured he didn’t win one as the Big Easy title came at the expense of Woods, who finished two shots behind the South African – the closest he’s ever come to winning at Riviera. Irwin’s victory at the Citrus Open came before Palmer began hosting the event at Bay Hill.

“Here and Memorial — I think player-organized invitationals are becoming more and more important in the PGA Tour schedule,” Rory McIlroy said last week. “I was lucky enough to win at Bay Hill, but Arnold wasn’t there when I did it. It would be really cool to get a trophy from Tiger and a trophy from Jack at some point. [Riviera] and Muirfield are two projects I would like to check off.”

Scheffler has already won twice at the Arnie and Jack tournaments, but the Tiger tournament continues to elude him. It’s not unfair to suggest that this year might have been the same if it hadn’t started so badly. Scheffler played his final 62 holes at 16 under, while Bridgeman won the tournament at 18 under. In the final three rounds, Scheffler clipped the one-shot winner.

Although those rough starts put Scheffler in holes, they allowed us to see his true competitive grit. This no-holds-barred attitude is reminiscent of a boxer who takes punch after punch to the point where he can no longer see out of one eye, but he still manages to stay on his feet and put in another round.

Scheffler remains the favorite in all four major championships: 3-1 at the Masters, 19/5 at the PGA Championship, 16/5 at the US Open and 5-1 at The Open, according to FanDuel.

The feedback has been overwhelming and fun to watch. They showed us what Scheffler is capable of accomplishing, even when stuck deep in the chasing pack. In another sense, they showed us what other he can do it, as we already knew, the Texan can win when he is well ahead.