Thinking about how well Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele have actually played this year, it must come as not a surprise to see their names on the leaderboard yet once again.
Playing together, they signed for 4-under 66s on a hot and damp day in Memphis. Scheffler and Schauffele being in a tie for 5th after the first day at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, 2 strokes behind Chris Kirk, whose hole-in-one on the 14th hole moved him into the solo lead.
“I seem like we both left to great starts today,” Scheffler stated.
“Felt like I got a little cold there on the back 9, however total I believe a strong start to the week.”
Schauffele opened with 3 successive birdies while Scheffler had 4 breakers of his own over his very first 6 holes. The World No. 1 even sliced his 2nd shot into the water on the par-5 3rd however still handled to conserve par.
The back-nine, as he pointed to, was a various story. Scheffler dealt with his irons, while Schauffele might not profit from chances.
Still, Schauffele handled to not make any bogies.
“It was excellent to go bogey-free,” Schauffele stated.
“Could have snuck a number of bogeys therein. In general, walking around this residential or commercial property bogey-free is constantly an advantage.”
Scheffler, on the other hand, did drop one on the par-4 13th due to a bad bunker shot. In an uncommon burst of disappointment, Scheffler knocked his wedge into the sand after his strike, which landed 13 feet beyond the hole.
“It was a quite simple shot. I struck simply an awful shot,” Scheffler stated.
Scottie Scheffler responds to his 3rd shot on the par-4 13th on the first day of the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship. Image by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
“It was sort of a lack-of-focus kind of minute. Yeah, I seemed like I did an excellent task getting myself into a position where I might make what I believed was going to be a simple par, and after that I simply struck a horrible shot and expense myself one there.”
Scheffler recuperated with a birdie on the par-5 16th to return to 4-under for the champion. Amusing enough, Schauffele made his only birdie on the back 9 there, too.
It appeared as if these 2 gamers fed off each other throughout the day, revealing sometimes how they are presently the very best duo on earth. They likewise have significant regard for each other and appreciate one another significantly.
“I believe he’s truly constant. He’s a guy that he’s never ever truly out of a hole,” Scheffler stated of Schauffele.
“Sometimes throughout the course of a round, you seem like he’s going to slip up, and he gets better truly rapidly, and he’s likewise a greatly difficult employee, so you like seeing guys like that have success.”
Schauffele,