There are countless perks to being a PGA Tour winner. Among them are better tee times over the first two rounds.
Scottie Scheffler has had plenty of great weekend tee times, but after winning last week’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, he finally earned the right to sleep in a little later on Thursday.
“I definitely got a different pairing, finally got out of the first-off group, so that was nice,” he said after shooting 5-under 66, three off the lead at the Genesis Invitational.
Full-field scores from The Genesis Invitational
Scheffler is tied with Jordan Spieth, with whom he played alongside in Round 1 at Riviera. Also in that threesome: Jon Rahm. Tour winners play with Tour winners in the opening rounds.
They went out at 7:24 a.m. local time, 44 minutes after the first group. It might not seem like a big difference, but it was enough for Scheffler to take note.
“Those tee times are tough. People don’t realize if you’re teeing off at 6:40 in the morning what time you’re waking up, what time you’re getting out here,” he said. “Half the places we show up in the morning then are closed. I’m sure the locker room was locked for all those guys this morning and trailer’s barely open and you’re warming up a literally in the dark basically until you tee off, so you don’t really get a good feel for where your body’s at and how you’re swinging that day, so it’s definitely more challenging than people know.”
Scheffler adjusted just fine in his first round as a first-time Tour winner, making four birdies, one eagle and one bogey.
The trio will go out at 11:59 a.m. local time on Friday, allowing for even more rest.