Scottie Scheffler opens Charles Schwab with eagle, trails rookie John Pak

FORT WORTH, Texas — Scottie Scheffler and John Pak loved the similar begin to the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial with eagles on their respective first holes.

The global No. 1 could not stay alongside of the PGA Tour rookie from there.

Four days after profitable his 0.33 primary on the PGA Championship, Scheffler opened his strive at 3 consecutive victories with a 2-under 68 Thursday. Pak shot 63 for a three-shot lead over 9 avid gamers, J.J. Spaun the highest-ranked amongst them at 27th.

Tommy Fleetwood and 2023 British Open champion Brian Harman had been amongst a gaggle of 9 avid gamers 4 again of Pak, and Scheffler headlined the 15 avid gamers who had been 5 strokes in the back of. 

Defending champion Davis Riley, who’s enjoying the primary two rounds with Scheffler, had two double bogeys at the entrance 9 and shot 3-over 73 at the comfortable path made well-known through Ben Hogan, the one participant to win Colonial in consecutive years (1946-47 and 1952-53). Riley is coming off a runner-up end to Scheffler on the PGA.

The others at 4 beneath with Spaun had been Patrick Rodgers, Ryo Hisatsune, Matti Schmid, Beau Hossler, Bud Cauley, J.T. Poston and Ben Griffin.

Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., used to be 4 photographs again of the lead after a 3-under 67. Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., shot 1-under 69

Jordan Spieth, Scheffler’s fellow homeland favorite and previous Texas Longhorn, shot 69 with birdies on two of his ultimate 4 holes.

Scheffler opened the second one of what he considers his homeland occasions through holing a putt for eagle from off the fairway at the par-5 first gap and a 23-footer for birdie on No. 2.

The Dallas resident performed the general 16 holes in 1 over, lacking sufficient fairways and vegetables to forestall a run at Pak, who completed a number of hours previous.

The first of Scheffler’s consecutive wins got here 3 weeks in the past at his homeland CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which he led wire-to-wire for an eight-shot victory whilst tying the excursion scoring file of 253. 

Scheffler should come from in the back of this time, simply as he did within the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, the place he confronted the similar first-round deficit sooner than surging into the lead within the 0.33 around and repelling a Sunday fee from Jon Rahm.

Scheffler skipped a few of his prep paintings within the pastime of relaxation and restoration, then confirmed up at the eve of Colonial at Game 1 of the NHL’s Western Conference ultimate. The Dallas Stars beat Edmonton 6-3 with a large third-period rally.

“It was fun going to the hockey game last night,” mentioned Scheffler, who may have an early tee time Friday. “I was able to still get home and get a decent amount of rest. Waking up the time I’m going to be waking up tomorrow, I’m going to need a little bit of extra rest. Just get home and get ready for tomorrow.”

Scheffler hit simply 5 fairways on a heat and windy afternoon, or even discovered hassle with a kind of when he delicately attempted to shoo a worm off his ball on the par-4 15th after caddie Ted Scott’s towel-waving try to create sufficient breeze did not paintings. Scheffler’s way landed 30 ft away, and he two-putted for par.

“On a day where I didn’t hit a lot of fairways on a golf course where you have to hit a lot of fairways, I posted a decent score,” Scheffler mentioned. “Anything under par around here in these conditions isn’t a bad score. Obviously, I wish it was a little bit lower, but overall I feel decent about the position I’m in.”

Starting at the par-4 10th, Pak holed a 147-yard way. He added 5 birdies in a bogey-free around. The 26-year-old Korn Ferry Tour graduate, and one-time winner at the PGA Tour Canada, is the 5th rookie to carry a first-round lead in a person match this 12 months.

The New Jersey-raised Pak discovered all of the motivation he wanted when his New York Knicks blew a 14-point lead within the ultimate 3 mins of a 138-135 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the NBA’s Eastern Conference finals.

“I’m a die-hard Knicks fan, and that was historically one of the worst losses I’ve ever seen in my life,” mentioned Pak, who has one top-25 end amongst seven made cuts in 12 occasions this 12 months. “There was a fire lit under me, yeah, this morning. I was a little (mad) about that.”

Joel Dahmen made a hole-in-one at the 186-yard 13th when his tee shot stopped about 25 ft in the back of the outlet, spun again and went in. The 37-year-old’s first profession ace used to be adopted through seven bogeys as he shot 74.

“Nine years out here, that’s a lot of par-3 attempts,” Dahmen mentioned. “A lot have looked good, and to finally go in was pretty cool.”