Scottie Scheffler’s Genesis Takeaway to Strike Fear in PGA Tour Pros

Scottie Scheffler is among the leaders after the first round of the 2025 Genesis Invitational. The World No. 1 is tied for fourth at 2-under, but he was atop the leaderboard at one point during the day.

Speaking after his first 18 holes at Torrey Pines, Scheffler detailed the state of his game, and his competitors ought to take notice.

“I felt like I swung it better than I have the last couple weeks,” the Ridgewood, NJ native said. “Typically, If you look at last year, if I was to have results like I did, you would have seen something with my putting I think. If I wasn’t competing last year, it was typically because of my putting and the last two weeks I felt like it was odd in the sense that I wasn’t driving it very well.

“So today I felt like I drove it a little bit better. I definitely hit some better iron shots and I continued to putt nicely. So overall I think it was a good building day and hopefully as the week goes on I’ll continue to kind of improve my swing feels.”

If Scottie Scheffler is regaining confidence in his swing, it is bad news for his peers.

In 2024, Scheffler led the PGA Tour in ball-striking, which led him to win seven regular-season events, nine worldwide, including one major championship, four Signature Events, The Players Championship, The TOUR Championship and the Paris Olympic Games tournament.

Scheffler’s performance during the first round of the Genesis Invitational included four birdies and two bogeys. His back nine was particularly challenging as the weather conditions deteriorated, resulting in one bogey and no birdies.

Still, Scheffler said it was “fun” to play in that kind of weather.

“I think it’s really fun. I think on Tour sometimes you always see golf courses in their best conditions typically with the best weather. Besides on the west coast we typically travel around with the best weather, which it’s odd to come to California and typically receive some of the worst weather.

“I think it’s interesting. The only other time we really see weather like this would be The Open Championship and I guess when I practice in Dallas.”

Scottie Scheffler will tee off at 1:14 p.m. Eastern Time for the second round of the Genesis Invitational. He is grouped with defending champion Hideki Matsuyama and two-time major champion Collin Morikawa.

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