Scottie Scheffler bounced back from his poor performance with his putter at last week’s Open as he returned to PGA Tour action on Thursday to card a six-under par 65 at the 3M Open.
The four-time major champion is three shots off overnight leader Ben Kohles, who wrapped up his round with a sensational eagle on the last to post a score of 62.
Emiliano Grillo, Jackson Koivun and Gary Woodland all sit one shot ahead of Scheffler, tied at seven under par.
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Jake Knapp just misses out on an ace at the 4th hole during his opening round at the 3M Open
World No 1 Scheffler had a quick turnaround following his tied-fourth finish at Royal Birkdale on Sunday, and began his first round at TPC Twin Cities on the back nine. He started a little slowly by his standards, making a birdie on the 12th hole before adding another on the 18th, despite missing the green with his approach.
From there, he found some momentum, carding a birdie on the first hole despite missing the green, before also making gains on the fourth, sixth and seventh holes.
Despite missing an eagle putt on the sixth and a 15ft birdie putt on the 14th, Scheffler impressed with his flat stick on Thursday afternoon in Minnesota, ranking second in the field for strokes gained putting.
“Fresh greens are a little bit easier than links greens,” the world No 1 said. “Part of playing links golf is the ball’s not going to roll true every single time.
“I felt like I was just on the wrong end of that last week.
Scheffler ranked second in the field for putting on Thursday afternoon after shooting a six-under par 65
“I got here and made sure I was lined up where I thought it was and made sure I was hitting it on that line and that was about it.”
Scheffler added that he would “love to predict” when a good putting day was coming.
“Golf’s funny. Some days you’re hitting your lines and the line seems to be tracking toward the hole and other days it feels like you’re doing the same thing and it kind of goes around the hole.
“But today was a day in which I was able to hole some nice putts and that’s why I was able to make some birdies out there.”
Elsewhere, England’s Jordan Smith returned to the PGA Tour after his impressive tied-18th finish at Royal Birkdale last week.
The 33-year-old got off to a bumpy start, three-putting on the fifth hole for a bogey, cancelling that out with a birdie on the sixth before finding a water hazard with his tee shot on the seventh to go down for a double bogey.
Smith recovered on his back nine to hit birdies on holes 13 and 17 to finish his round at level par.
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