Scottie Scheffler’s second round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open went just fine…until the very last putt. Or, make that three putts.
Three cringe-worthy, extremely un-Scheffler-like putts.
Scheffler is a dominant World No. 1 for two main reasons: His Tiger Woods-level ball-striking, and his general poise. Outside of the rare outburst (caused by his since-retired-putter), the 27-year-old is cool as a cucumber.
Not on the 18th green at Memorial Park.
Through 17 holes on Friday, Scheffler — coming off victories at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and Players Championship — looked more or less on track in his quest to become the first golfer since Dustin Johnson in 2017 to win three consecutive starts on the PGA Tour.
Scheffler, who shot a clean Round 1 65, quickly shook off his first bogey of the event, on the first hole. He birdied three front-nine birdies, highlighted by a chip-in on the par-4 fourth that he made look alarmingly easy.
He was uncustomarily shaky on the back nine, though, with two birdies and two bogeys.
Then, on his second shot on No. 18, he produced a typical dash of Scheffler magic, nearly holing out from off the green (as Tony Finau did earlier). But, Scheffler’s par putt came in a little hot — as did a fan, who yelled “Boogieboard Scottie!” milliseconds after contact — and lipped off the right side of the cup. Scheffler rushed up to the ball and promptly missed again. Yikes.
“No, I do that all the time,” Scheffler said sarcastically to a reporter’s question about the lapse. “You watch me a lot, so that happens a lot to me.”
His score of six on the par-4 18th put him at an even-par 70 — ending his record streak of 28 consecutive under-par rounds on the PGA Tour. It was his first double bogey of 2024.
Scheffler now enters the weekend four strokes back of leader and defending Houston Open champion Tony Finau (-9), who tied Scheffler’s Memorial Park record with an impressive eight-under 62 in windy conditions.
Joe Highsmith and Alejandro Tosti (-7) are tied for second. Chad Ramey, Stephan Jaegar, Akshay Bhatia (clip), and Round 1 leader Taylor Moore sit five under.
Finau (+125) is now the slight favorite over Scheffler (+230) to hoist the trophy, according to FanDuel. The winner of the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open will earn $1.6 million (of the $9.1 million purse), 500 FedExCup points, and an automatic invitation to Augusta National.
Scheffler can only hope that he’s getting his putting woes out of the way now, and not a foreboding sign with The Masters less than two weeks away. Either way, let his out-of-body lapse in poise on the green serve as a useful reminder: It happens to the best of us.
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