Scottie Scheffler admits what ‘hurt’ him about his first round at the Scottish Open after shooting 68

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Scottie Scheffler got off to a solid if not spectacular start to the Genesis Scottish Open on Thursday.

Scheffler posted a score of two-under par 68 on day one of the Scottish Open at The Renaissance Club.

The 30-year-old certainly wasn’t at his very best and in some ways, his opening round in Scotland was symbolic of his season as a whole.

Scottie Scheffler does have a win and nine top-5 finishes to his name in 14 PGA Tour starts this season, but anyone who has watched him this season will know he hasn’t been anywhere near the standards he has set in previous years.

The world number one made two sloppy bogeys on Thursday at the Scottish Open, but he did offset those mistakes with four birdies.

Scottie Scheffler will have to improve if he is to defend his Open Championship title next week, but he does have three more rounds this week where he can regain some much-needed confidence.

Scottie Scheffler admits what ‘hurt’ him about his first round at the Scottish Open

Scheffler spoke to reporters after his opening round at The Renaissance Club in North Berwick on Thursday.

And the Texan responded when asked to sum up the current state of his game.

“You know, I did some good stuff,“ he said.

“Wish I could have gotten a few more shots out of it but yeah, overall, I think pretty solid. I wish — like to keep a clean card, so two bogeys hurts. But maybe could have played the par 5s a little bit better. I didn’t take advantage of those today.

“But overall, nothing crazy. Just a decent day.“

Scheffler’s opening round at The Renaissance Club was decent, as he said himself.

However, big improvements are required in all facets of his game if he is to have any chance of winning this week.

Scottie Scheffler comments on the greens at The Renaissance Club

The American was hugely frustrated with the putting surfaces during the Genesis Scottish Open last year.

However, the greens have clearly improved this year.

Scheffler spoke after his round and highlighted exactly that.

“It could be the pin locations, maybe,“ Scheffler suggested.

“That would be maybe the first thing I could think of. But the greens, I think are in better condition than they have been in the last couple years, so that’s been good to see some improvement there.“

Now the onus is on Scottie Scheffler to start rolling his ball better on the greens and to make some birdies in order to properly get into contention at the Genesis Scottish Open.