Scottie Scheffler opens Colonial
with an eagle and trails tour rookie John Pak by 5 shots
[May 23, 2025]
By SCHUYLER DIXON
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Scottie Scheffler and John Pak enjoyed the
same start to the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial with eagles
on their respective first holes.
The world No. 1 couldn't keep up with the PGA Tour rookie from
there.
Four days after winning his third major at the PGA Championship,
Scheffler opened his attempt at three consecutive victories with a
2-under 68 Thursday. Pak shot 63 for a three-shot lead over nine
players, J.J. Spaun the highest-ranked among them at 27th.
Tommy Fleetwood and 2023 British Open champion Brian Harman were
among a group of nine players four back of Pak, and Scheffler
headlined the 15 players who were five strokes behind.
Defending champion Davis Riley, who is playing the first two rounds
with Scheffler, had two double bogeys on the front nine and shot
3-over 73 on the cozy course made famous by Ben Hogan, the only
player to win Colonial in consecutive years (1946-47 and 1952-53).
Riley is coming off a runner-up finish to Scheffler at the PGA.
The others at 4 under with Spaun were Patrick Rodgers, Ryo Hisatsune,
Matti Schmid, Beau Hossler, Bud Cauley, J.T. Poston and Ben Griffin.
Jordan Spieth, Scheffler's fellow hometown favorite and former Texas
Longhorn, shot 69 with birdies on two of his final four holes.
Scheffler opened the second of what he considers his hometown events
by holing a putt for eagle from off the green on the par-5 first
hole and a 23-footer for birdie on No. 2.
The Dallas resident played the final 16 holes in 1 over, missing
enough fairways and greens to prevent a run at Pak, who finished
several hours earlier.
The first of Scheffler's consecutive wins came three weeks ago at
his hometown CJ Cup Byron Nelson, which he led wire-to-wire for an
eight-shot victory while tying the tour scoring record of 253.
Scheffler will have to come from behind this time, just as he did in
the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow, where he faced the same
first-round deficit before surging into the lead in the third round
and repelling a Sunday charge from Jon Rahm.
Scheffler skipped some of his prep work in the interest of rest and
recovery, then showed up on the eve of Colonial at Game 1 of the
NHL's Western Conference final. The Dallas Stars beat Edmonton 6-3
with a big third-period rally.
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John Pak hits off the ninth tee during the first round of the
Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at Colonial Country Club in
Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, May 22, 2025. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
“It was fun going to the hockey game last night,”
said Scheffler, who will 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 just five fairways on a warm and windy afternoon, and
even found trouble with one of those when he delicately tried to
shoo a bug off his ball at the par-4 15th after caddie Ted Scott's
towel-waving attempt to create enough breeze didn't work.
Scheffler's approach landed 30 feet 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 said. “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 on the par-4 10th, Pak holed a 147-yard approach. He added
five birdies in a bogey-free round. The 26-year-old Korn Ferry Tour
graduate, and one-time winner on the PGA Tour Canada, is the fifth
rookie to hold a first-round lead in an individual event this year.
The New Jersey-raised Pak found all the motivation he needed when
his New York Knicks blew a 14-point lead in the final three minutes
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,” said Pak, who has one
top-25 finish among seven made cuts in 12 events this year. “There
was a fire lit under me, yeah, this morning. I was a little (mad)
about that.”
Joel Dahmen made a hole-in-one on the 186-yard 13th when his tee
shot stopped about 25 feet behind the hole, spun back and went in.
The 37-year-old's first career ace was followed by seven bogeys as
he shot 74.
“Nine years out here, that’s a lot of par-3 attempts,” Dahmen said.
“A lot have looked good, and to finally go in was pretty cool.”
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