Report of Scottie Scheffler’s demise? Overblown.
Despite coming off his first missed cut in nearly four years last Friday at the Genesis Scottish Open, the world’s top-ranked player kickstarted his Open Championship defense with four front-nine birdies Thursday morning at Royal Birkdale.
Scheffler didn’t have a birdie look longer than 18 feet through his first five holes. He converted three of those – 14 feet at No. 2, 7 feet at No. 3 and 5 feet at No. 5.
He then added a birdie from distance, sinking a 43-footer at the par-4 sixth, which at the time gave him the solo lead.
Hello Scottie Scheffler 👀
— Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 16, 2026
The defending champion rolls in the long birdie to take the solo lead at -4 pic.twitter.com/KAscNCR5ul
Though Scheffler chipped through the green and bogeyed the par-3 seventh, he still turned at 3 under, just a shot off Sungjae Im’s lead. He and playing competitors, Bryson DeChambeau and Tyrrell Hatton, were a combined 7 under through nine holes.