World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is trying to defend his title at TPC Sawgrass, and an unexpected in-tournament equipment change marked his opening round.

Scheffler switched from the TaylorMade Qi10 to the Qi4D driver last week. We saw him use it at Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge last December. However, he's now gone back to the Qi10.

"I do not think I had enough trust in what the driver head was doing compared to where I was last week," Scheffler said, explaining the reason for his old club switch.

The uncertainty came from an unexpected ball drawing when he attempted one of his trademark "peeler" cut shots. As Scheffler explained:

“I feel like what we have seen is more consistent spin numbers. So that will help it be a little bit more accurate off the tee. Directionally, I struggled a little bit with it at the start of the year, but I got to what I thought was a really good spot last week, and I liked what I saw today."

That's because last week, when Scheffler used the Qi4D at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, he observed average results, finishing 19th in strokes gained.

But It's Not All Bad News

Scheffler confirmed he will use the older driver for the rest of the week.

While dealing with equipment issues, the World No. 1 saved his round with outstanding performance on the greens.

"I would argue that the only thing I did all that great today was putt," he noted, after reaching the end of the challenging Pete Dye-designed course.

As he heads into Friday, he is still focused on "cleaning things up" and hoping the equipment change will finally lead to some stabilization in his ball-striking.

After an even-par 72, Scheffler sits 5 shots back, leaving fans to question if his trusty driver will help him climb the leaderboard on Friday.

Read more at Daily Club Golf!

Written by

Abhishek Sharma

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar