The first 18 holes of the Hero World Challenge are in the books, and, shockingly, Scottie Scheffler is at the top of the leaderboard. And despite three rounds still to go and 19 other stars in the field, Scheffler is already minus money to win. Yup, -125.
The guy is ridiculous.
He hit 11 fairways and 15 greens, made seven birdies and one bogey, and signed for an opening-round 6-under 66 to kick off the week in Albany, Bahamas. Of course, we shouldn’t be surprised (for several reasons). The biggest being that he’s played in this event four times, and here’s what he’s done: 2nd (2021), 2nd (2022), 1st (2023), and 1st (2024).
Again, ridiculous.
But he’s not up there alone. Scheffler bogeyed the par-4 18th to fall into a five-way tie for the lead.
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One of those names alongside the Texan is Akshay Bhatia, who now has Max Homa’s longtime caddie, Joe Greiner, on the bag. In their first round together, Bhatia and Greiner got around Albany in 66 shots for a nice, little score of 6 under. The 23-year-old opened with a birdie, closed with another, and mixed in two more, plus an eagle, on the day.
After signing his card, Bhatia admitted that he chased Greiner throughout the middle of the year to try and get him on the bag, but it never worked out timing-wise. Now that they’re finally together, he’s excited to have a lefty as his looper.
“I think certain golf courses, certain shots, certain cues that we have, he really understands that,” Bhatia said. “And again, I think from the majority of lefties that I’ve met—Phil, Bubba, myself—very creative, and I think lefty has something to do with that, I believe. I think there’s always—it’s an exciting thing for me for someone to see a shot the way I do.”
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Sepp Straka, Wyndham Clark, and J.J. Spaun are the other three players sitting at 6 under through 18 holes. Two players, Corey Conners and Keegan Bradley, are a shot back from the lead.
If you’re planning on watching the action on Friday, Golf Channel will have the coverage from 1:30-4:30 p.m. ET.
