PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry decorated stunning views Thursday with a hole-in-one for each on different courses. Russell Henley birdied his last two holes for an 8-under 64 and the lead at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. And there was Scottie Scheffler, looking very much like he was never away.
Scheffler, out of golf for a month from a freak injury making ravioli, opened with a bogey at Spyglass Hill, didn’t make another bogey the rest of the way, missed only one green and began his encore with a 67.
“I like what I saw today,” said Scheffler, who wound up missing two tournaments to start the year. “I hit a few errant shots out there, but overall kept the course in front of me for the most part, so I was able to make a decent amount of birdies.”
Jordan Spieth, the three-time major champion who last played in August before season-ending surgery on his left wrist, had the birdies dry up after a solid start on the back nine at Spyglass Hill. He had to settle for a 70.
The conditions were as calm as they probably will get this week, with some cloud cover and cool weather. Pebble Beach typically is the place to be when the wind doesn’t blow because of the scoring opportunities, particularly on the first seven holes. It’s the worst place to be — in golf competition terms, anyway — when the wind arrives.
Henley was at Spyglass, which had a course average (69.775) that was 1.6 shots more than Pebble Beach. Viktor Hovland — who felt his game was “not very good” entering the tournament, shot 65 at Pebble Beach, along with Cam Davis, Jake Knapp and Justin Rose. Sepp Straka and Rasmus Hojgaard shot their 65s at Spyglass.
Scheffler went from the hill right of the 10th fairway at Spyglass to a front bunker, blasted out some 20 feet and missed his par putt. That was his only bogey, though he was 1 over until lacing a fairway metal to 30 feet for two-putt birdie on the par-5 14th.
According to golf analyst Justin Ray, Scheffler had his 100th round on the PGA Tour since 2022 with one bogey or fewer. That’s what McIlroy was raving about when he spoke of golf’s best player earlier in the week. A month away, and a failed attempt at cutting ravioli dough with a wine glass, hasn’t changed that.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.