It’s been nearly four months since World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler last lifted a trophy at the Hero World Challenge, and more than six months since he won the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Scheffler has spent the first quarter of the 2025 season embarking on a frustrating comeback from the hand injury he sustained over the holidays. In five tournaments this year, Scheffler has posted only two top-10s. At this point in the season last year, he’d already won twice. But with the major season about to begin at the Masters, where Scheffler is the defending champion, his game is showing signs of rounding into form at just the right time.
On Friday at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, Scheffler fired a sizzling 62, tying the course record with an eight-birdie round. In fact, Scheffler has yet to post a bogey in 36 holes. His 67-62 tally (-11) puts him one shot ahead of Taylor Pendrith at the tournament’s halfway point. A portion of the field has yet to complete the second round thanks to two-hour weather delay, but Scheffler was able to take advantage of the calm conditions during his early morning tee time. The biggest difference-maker, though, was Scheffler’s putting. Friday’s 62 featured 112 feet of drained putts.
“I felt like I was hitting so many good putts, especially at the Players, putts that were going around the edge. Today was a day where I felt like my ball-striking could have been a bit better and I was able to hole some putts,” Scheffler said after his round. “I hit a lot of greens but I felt like my irons were just barely off, and I felt like I could have been hitting them a little bit closer to the hole, but overall kept it on the green, kept giving myself looks.
“The way I was putting, I didn’t feel I had to force ’em there by many pins if I wasn’t totally comfortable with the shot, so good results.”
Houston Open host course Memorial Park appears to be a comfortable fit for Scheffler. He has two runner-up finishes — and a T9 — in his last three appearances, and has never finished worse than T32 in five total appearances.
A win on Sunday would mark his first of the 2025 season, and the 14th of his PGA Tour career.
