If there was a round to encompass Scottie Scheffler in 2026, it may have transpired on Thursday at Royal Birkdale. Serving as the defending champion, the world No. 1 traversed through the links-golf gem alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton in effective fashion.
An eclectic threesome on paper had an electric day on the browned-out fairways, with Scheffler signing for a 2-under 68 to position himself two strokes off the early lead at the 154th Open held by Sungjae Im and Dan Brown. As a group, the trio played in 6 under with DeChambeau falling out of a share of the lead with a bogey on the last and Hatton bleeding one on the par-4 finisher as well to shoot 69.
Scheffler’s name was the one that everyone else was looking up at early in the proceedings as four birdies in his first six holes pushed the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year to the position he last saw it last year at Royal Portrush. A variety of clubs off the tee and shots into greens put Scheffler’s expert shotmaking on display.
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On No. 3, he held up a mid iron into a right-to-left wind and cashed in a birdie look. Two holes later, the American pushed the envelope off the tee and pushed his 3 wood greenside of the short par-4. A lofted chip that ran out to perfection set up his third birdie of the morning.
The well appeared to be bountiful after Scheffler seized a birdie opportunity from just inside 50 feet on his next, but it proved to be the opposite. The circle on the scorecard on the par-4 6th was the last that he penciled, and instead he put two squares on it the rest of the way with those coming at the short par-3 7th due to a poor wedge and the par-5 17th after hitting his second from the fairway out of position and missing from inside 5 feet.
After making roughly 80 feet worth of putts on his outward nine, Scheffler made just 20 coming home. Still, he led the early starters in terms of par-4 scoring by playing that group of holes in 4 under and the par 3s and par 5s in both 1 over.
“Anytime you can shoot under par to start a major championship, it’s a good spot to be in,” Scheffler said. “I got off to a hot start in the round today and wasn’t able to make as many birdies as I would have hoped to down the stretch. I played the par-5s in over par. My only other bogey today was a wedge on 7, so those are a little disappointing.
“Like I said, if I continue to strike the ball the way I did today and just keep giving myself looks, that’s part of it. Golf is played over 72 holes, and I definitely liked what I saw today.”
Although his scoring stalled, Scheffler’s shotmaking looked a lot like the Scheffler that golf fans had grown accustomed to seeing the last few years. He missed just one fairway the entire day leading the field in driving accuracy, and when he did, he was able to zip a wedge back from inside 90 yards to inside 5 feet to save par.
In difficult winds like the par-3 15th and off the tee on the par-4 18th, Scheffler worked the ball against it to access the correct landing zones. This allowed him to play the five most difficult holes — Nos. 6, 8, 13, 15 and 18 — in 1-under fashion, gain a bit more than 2.50 strokes on the field and kept him within reach even if the putter turned cold on his back side.
“I felt like the few shots I hit offline today, really only a couple — I didn’t get up-and-down on 7 and then missed the fairway on 10, I’m in a pot bunker, and then on 17 was really the only other shot I hit offline, and I end up in that spot,” Scheffler said. “That’s a pretty good assessment.
“I felt like I could have gotten a little bit more out of it, but yeah, if I continue to do what I did today with the ball-striking, I’ll be in a good spot as the week goes on.”