With the help of a tree, Scottie Scheffler opens with 67 at Colonial

Scottie Scheffler opened the Charles Schwab Challenge with a solid 3-under 67, but the six-time PGA Tour winner wasn’t sure what to make of his first round.

“I don’t know how to describe my round today,” Scheffler said. “I felt like I could have shot really low, and I feel like I could have went in the opposite direction, too, really fast. I really don’t know. I posted 3 under, which is really nice. Anything in the red around Colonial is typically a pretty good score.”

Full-field scores from Charles Schwab Challenge

Scheffler’s four birdies were countered with a lone bogey at the par-4 second, but a break at the par-4 fifth might’ve turned a bogey into a birdie.

The 2022 Masters champion pushed his 3-wood well into the right trees off the tee and could’ve potentially found the hazard, but he watched as his ball ricocheted off one of those trees into the middle of the fairway.

Scheffler was left with 205 yards to the hole and hit it to 15 feet before rolling in the birdie.

“It was a ball I felt was going to go into the hazard,” Scheffler said. “Next thing I know, I saw the ball bounce out, and I actually had a shot from the middle of the fairway. Massive break there. I ended up being able to take advantage of it and make birdie. It was definitely a shot or two swing, I would say, throughout the round.”

Scheffler is just a shot back of second as the afternoon wave gets started at Colonial, but sits five shots behind Harry Hall, who has opened a big early lead with a first-round 8-under 62.