CASTLE ROCK, Colo. – There was a brief moment of concern for Scottie Scheffler on Thursday when the FedExCup points leader grabbed his lower back after hitting his second shot into the 17th hole at the BMW Championship.
Scheffler said he woke up “a little sore” ahead of the first round of the PGA Tour’s second playoff event. He didn’t show any noticeable signs of discomfort until he tried to hit a high draw off a steep sidehill lie into the uphill par 5.
“I had trouble kind of loosening it up,” he said. “With it being a little tight, it was hard for me to get through it, and I was laboring most of the day to get through the ball. On 17, I was trying to hit a high draw, and that’s a shot where I’ve really got to use a big turn, big motion. Really just felt it a little bit. But other than that, all good.”
Scheffler parred the last two holes in an opening, 1-under 71, leaving him five shots off the pace as he attempts to remain in front of the FedExCup standings heading into the finale.
After the round, Scheffler repeatedly downplayed any sort of issue, chalking it up to possibly hitting too many balls on Wednesday. He said that he’d ice the area and receive his normal post-round treatment.
“I’ll be totally fine tomorrow,” he said.
Scheffler will clinch the No. 1 seed at East Lake with a solo fourth of better this week at Castle Pines, a long, grueling walk on a 8,100-yard course that plays at 6,400 feet above sea level. He could potentially lose the top spot if second-seeded Xander Schauffele wins the BMW and Scheffler finishes worse than a two-way tie for fourth.
Schauffele, who opened with a 3-under 69 alongside Scheffler, said he noticed that Scheffler looked “a little stiff” at times when he’d turn his head. But Schauffele also recalled how the world No. 1 suffered a neck injury at The Players but still nipped him at the end, one of his six victories this season.
“I guess it’s a bad sign for everyone else,” Schauffele said with a smile.
Last week, it was Scheffler himself who – when explaining why it’s “silly” to call the FedExCup a season-long race when it essentially comes down to a single tournament – mentioned the possibility of how an injury could impact the final result.
“Hypothetically, we get to East Lake and my neck flares up and it doesn’t heal the way it did at The Players, I finish 30th in the FedExCup because I had to withdraw from the last tournament,” Scheffler said. “Is that really the season-long race? No. It is what it is.”