NASSAU, Bahamas — Scottie Scheffler brought a new putting grip to the Hero World Challenge and felt enough improvement to be satisfied with the result, a 5-under 67 that left him three shots behind Cameron Young on Thursday.
Young was playing for the first time since the BMW Championship more than three months ago and found great success on and around the greens of Albany Golf Club, chipping beautifully and holing four birdie putts from 15 feet or longer for his 64.
He led by two shots over Justin Thomas in his first competition since his daughter was born a few weeks ago. Thomas ran off four straight birdies late in his round and was a fraction of an inch away with a fifth.
The big surprise was Scheffler, the No. 1 player in golf who looked as good as he has all year in compiling eight victories, including an Olympic gold medal. His iron play has no equal. His putting at times has kept him from winning more or winning bigger. He decided to try to a “saw” putting grip from about 20 feet or closer — the putter rests between his right thumb and his fingers, with his left index finger pointed down the shaft.
“I’m always looking for ways to improve,” Scheffler said.
Scheffler last year began working with renowned putting instructor Phil Kenyon, and he says Kenyon mentioned the alternative putting grip back then.
“But it was really our first time working together and it’s something that’s different than what I’ve done in the past,” Scheffler said. “This year I had thought about it from time to time, and it was something that we had just said let’s table that for the end of the season, take a look at it.
“Figured this is a good week to try stuff.”
He opened with a wedge to 2 feet and he missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-5 third. But he holed a birdie from about the same distance at the next par 5, No. 6, and holed a sliding 6-footer on the ninth to save par.
His longest putt was his last hole, from 12 feet for a closing birdie.
“I really enjoyed the way it felt,” he said. “I felt like I’m seeing some improvements in my stroke.”
Young, regarded as the best active player without a PGA Tour victory, is treating this holiday tournament as the start of a new season. He worked on getting stronger and got back to the basics in his powerful golf swing.
And on this day, he was dialed in with his short game. He only struggled to save par twice and kept piling up birdies in his bogey-free round on an ideal day in the Bahamas.
“The wind wasn’t blowing much, so it was relatively stress-free,” Young said.
Patrick Cantlay, along with Scheffler playing for the first time since the Presidents Cup, also was at 67 with Ludvig Åberg, Akshay Bhatia and Sahith Theegala.
Thomas also took this occasion to do a little experimenting against a 20-man field. He has using a 46-inch driver at home — a little more than an inch longer than his regular driver — in a bid to gain more speed. On a day with little wind, on a golf course with some room off the tee, he decided to put it in play.
“Just with it being a little bit longer, I just kind of have to get the club out in front of me and get on top of it a little bit more,” Thomas said. “I drove the hell out of it on the back, so that was nice to try something different and have it go a little bit better on the back.”
Thomas said the longer driver gives him 2 or 3 mph in ball speed and 10 extra yards in the air.
“It’s very specific for courses, but gave it a try,” he said.
Conditions were easy enough that only four players in field failed to break par, with Jason Day bringing up the rear with a 75.