EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsSOUTHPORT, England - When world No. 1 golfer Scottie Scheffler found his ball in the heavy rough right of the 17th fairway in Thursday's opening round of the 154th Open Championship, he hoped somebody had stepped on it.Scheffler had pushed his approach shot from 253 yards badly right, and his ball was underneath a wire and buried in the heavy grass at Royal Birkdale Golf Club."I'm hoping somebody stepped on it, but nobody would fess up," Scheffler said, after posting a 2-under 68, which put him in a tie for 10th after the early wave. "Apparently, nobody did. It was just one of those things."Scheffler said he considered taking a one-shot penalty for an unplayable lie but decided to take a whack at it."I was just shocked at how deep the ball was in that grass," Scheffler said. "It looked like a lot of good spots around there, and then all of a sudden you get to one area where my ball is. I didn't think I was going to be able to get the ball out of the grass that it was sitting in but was able to get it out."His third shot skipped across the fairway. He ended up making a bogey on the par-5 17th, which played as the easiest hole on Thursday."Just one of those deals," Scheffler said. "Sometimes, you hit it over there and you get a clean lie and you're able to give yourself a look, and then other times like today, you pay a pretty severe price. But I guess don't hit it offline."All in all, it was a good start for the defending Open Championship winner, who was coming off his first missed cut in nearly four years at last week's Scottish Open.Scheffler started out hot with birdies on four of the first six holes to grab the early lead at 4-under. He made a 14-foot birdie putt on No. 2, a 7 -footer on No. 3, a 4 1/2-footer on No. 5 and a 43 -foot bomb on No. 6.His only blemish on the front was a bogey on the par-3 seventh after he mishit his tee shot.Scheffler's putter cooled off, however, and he made nine consecutive pars before the bogey on the 17th."Anytime you can shoot under par to start a major championship, it's a good spot to be in," Scheffler said. "I got off to a hot start in the round today and wasn't able to make as many birdies as I would have hoped to down the stretch."If I continue to strike the ball the way I did today and just keep giving myself looks, that's part of it. Golf is played over 72 holes, and I definitely liked what I saw today."Scheffler's playing partner, Bryson DeChambeau, who missed the cut in the first three majors of the season, posted a 3-under 67 to grab a share of third place after the early wave.Playing with a full set of 3D-printed irons that he fabricated, DeChambeau balanced a bogey on the 18th with five birdies while gaining more than 2 strokes on approach.DeChambeau's performance came days after three-time Open Championship winner Nick Faldo criticized him for being overly aggressive on links courses."I'd say it to his face -- he has zero clue of strategy," Faldo told Sky Sports.DeChambeau declined to talk to reporters after the round, but seemed to clap back at Faldo in his comments to an official from The R&A."I think you've got to be a lot more strategic out on the golf course," DeChambeau said. "I feel like I did a really good job today of being incredibly strategic and focused super hard on placing it in the right places."The two-time U.S. Open champion is attempting to avoid becoming the first multiple-major winner in 28 years to play in all four majors and miss the cut in each one. Tom Watson and Ben Crenshaw were the last ones to do it in 1998."Yeah, definitely satisfying," DeChambeau told The R&A. "Any time you get off to a great start, it's awesome, but there's three more days, dude. There's still a lot of golf to be played. But ultimately from my perspective I was really excited about the way I played."
