Rory McIlroy and Jacob Bridgeman tied for second with a five-under after the first round at the 2026 Genesis Invitational. And Aaron Rai led the leaderboard. But Scottie Scheffler was too far behind on Thursday. 

Ahead of the event, the PGA Tour highlighted Scheffler’s “dominance” on X, highlighting the ten names who beat him since July 17, 2025. However, the fans weren’t happy with Scheffler’s performance and the PGA Tour’s post. 

Unimpressed by Scheffler’s gameplay, one fan commented, “Scottie’s name should be on that list too.” Meanwhile, another fan pointed out, “He will be 10 behind again after round 1.  Only person out there bogeying in this easy conditions.”

Scheffler was nowhere near proving himself the world number one. He shot a five-over and finished the round at T71. Scheffler bogeyed the second and sixth and double-bogeyed the eighth after dropping a couple of shots. 

The world number one played three events in 2026 before coming to the Genesis Invitational. At the WM Phoenix Open and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Scheffler struggled in the first round. He ranked outside the top 50 in the first rounds, but ultimately, he worked his way to a top-five finish. 

One fan reflected on that and claimed, “He really blows on Thursdays.” Another fan added, “Playing like he is playing on Thursday, he ain’t winning.”

And Scheffler was well aware of the ‘frustrating’ part of the game. 

Scottie Scheffler Opens Up on the Building Frustration

Talking to the media ahead of the 2026 Genesis Invitational, Scheffler explained that he doesn’t have a way to measure how good he is on the course. And there are a lot of ways things can go awry. 

He said, “When things don’t go as planned, I think it’s healthy to have a level of frustration with that, just because it takes so much work in order to get out here, and especially when you feel like you’re doing something right and doing things the right way and not getting the results.”

“I think it can always be frustrating, but I think that’s part of the game of golf is being able to manage that in order to execute the next shot.” 

Scheffler has recovered from slow starts before and turned shaky Thursdays into weekend surges. If he finds rhythm quickly, he can still contend for the title or secure another top-five finish.

Read more at Daily Club Golf!

Written by

Krushna Pattnaik

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu