Scottie Scheffler might be indifferent towards his 18 consecutive top-10 finishes but what about the Tour-leading cut streak that dates back to August 2022? There’s no pretending for the world’s No. 1 player — that matters.
And Scheffler showed it on the 18th hole at Riviera Country Club on Friday afternoon, pumping his fist after his par putt sank in the cup.
Cut streak upped to 68, pressure lifted. At least for one more tournament.
Scheffler, who will not be at next week’s Cognizant Classic in Florida after three straight starts, shot a 3-under 68 in Round 2 at the Genesis Invitational. After being tied for last place at one point during his opening round at Riviera, Scheffler ascended on the leaderboard from T-63 after 18 holes to T-43 entering the weekend.
“I started the day not where I wanted to, but battled and it looks like I get another couple rounds to see what I can do,” he told reporters in his post-round interview.
The first two days at the Genesis mirror Scheffler’s previous two February tournaments. At TPC Scottsdale, he went from T-89 in Round 1 to T-28 after 36 holes at the WM Phoenix Open.
Last week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, he climbed back from T-62 to T-34 before the final two rounds.
Scheffler put himself in position to win both tournaments despite the slow starts, finishing T-3 in the desert and T-4 on the Monetary Peninsula.
What does this weekend have in store for him? The golf world awaits.
“This place and I have like a weird relationship,” Scheffler admitted. “I feel like I can play so well out here and I just haven’t yet. You know, this morning was another morning where I just felt like I was close and like just tried to stay patient, tried to do what I could do.”
As for the slow starts on Thursday, Scheffler did say that teeing off late has been a recent challenge for him.
“In both the last two [tournaments], teeing off late is never the easiest and I’ve gotten off to slow starts,” he said. “Like teeing off yesterday when we did was pretty challenging around this golf course. The wind and with how soft the greens were, and how bumpy they can get along with wind and they’re fast, if it was last week it would have been easier because you can kind of at least try to jam it in.
“Here [at Riviera] it’s like you can’t — you don’t want to have another three, three and a half feet coming back,” he added. “You kind of got to get up there by the hole and it’s a little bit of a crapshoot sometimes whether or not it’s going to go in. And yesterday was definitely a day none of mine were going in.”