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LOS ANGELES – Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus never won at The Riviera Country Club. Neither have the two biggest stars of this generation – Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler. One looked ready to change that Thursday, the other looked lost ...

Scheffler's Thursday blues

It’s one of the weirdest phenomena of the PGA TOUR season thus far. Scottie Scheffler has been unquestionably the best golfer in the world from Friday through Sunday. Thursdays have been a completely different, confounding story.

For the third straight event, Scheffler stumbled out of the gates and gave himself a large deficit to try to climb out of. He nearly did at the WM Phoenix Open and AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, a sign of his greatness, finishing top five in both. He’ll have a similar task again, 5-over through 10 holes when play was called Thursday evening at Riviera (he would finish with a 3-over 74 in Round 1).

Here’s the stat as of Thursday evening: Scheffler is 2-under overall in first rounds this year (with a 9-under at The American Express doing a lot of heavy lifting). In the other three rounds, he’s 55-under (an average of 65.5).

Now, let’s establish an important caveat: Scheffler was dealt a tough weather draw. He began his round just as wind gusts started to balloon over 30mph. That doesn’t explain it away, though. Most of the field still had half their rounds to go when that weather rolled in, and his playing partner, Si Woo Kim, dealt with it admirably, 3-under when play halted.

So what’s going on? Scheffler was clearly out of sorts, losing numerous shots to the right that cost him strokes. At the drivable par-4 10th, Scheffler chipped into a bunker from just off the green, an uncharacteristic mistake for one of the best short-game golfers in the world, then lipped out a short par putt.

If history is a guide, all will be fine on Friday. Scheffler might even flip the script in his final eight holes early in the morning. For now, though, it’s the continuation of the most confusing trends in recent memory.

One more stat to send you on your way, this one from the always insightful Justin Ray: That was Scheffler's worst 10-hole start to a PGA TOUR event. The next worst? The 2014 CJ CUP Byron Nelson. He was 4-over after 10. But he was a 17-year-old amateur.

Playing through

• 📺 Really cool look at Riviera here. Rickie Fowler talked through every shot of his Wednesday practice round. A great way to understand the course and how players will play it this week.
• 💲More than $1 million will be donated to wildfire recovery efforts this week. Merch is also available with 100% of proceeds going to toward the cause.
• 🖼️ Compiled some really cool photos of Riviera over the years. The course is celebrating its centennial.

McIlroy keeps big numbers at bay

The big mistakes cost Rory McIlroy a chance to contend at AT&T Pebble Beach. He made three double bogeys and a triple bogey and lost by five strokes.

Those were non-existent Thursday, partly because it’s harder to make those numbers at the landlocked Riviera, but also because he embraced the same conditions that hindered Scheffler. McIlroy said he’s made significant strides in performing in high winds, in particular. He’s added three-quarter swings with every wedge and iron to help him flight shots down. He’s also relied on a low-trajectory tee shot he pulls out when he needs to navigate narrow or windy shots. He pulled it off in the teeth of the wind on the 12th. He did the same downwind on the difficult 18th. All in all, he made six birdies and one bogey to share the clubhouse lead at 5-under, one shot behind Aaron Rai (6-under through 16 holes).

“I haven't always had the skill set to excel in (conditions),” he said. “To start to enjoy them and have the shots to succeed on days like this, that's a really satisfying thing to be able to be, you know, nearly 20 years into a career and still feel like you're getting better at some aspects of the game.”

Parting shots

• 🛟 Viktor Hovland led the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green on Thursday (+3.5). He said it’s validation for the work he’s put in, which has included viral drills with pool floaties and resistance bands. “We're not quite all there yet … but that was a huge step in the right direction." He shot 2-under.
• 😮 Collin Morikawa said he’s “never seen greens like” Riviera’s on Thursday. With the rain, they were extremely soft to hit into, yet still incredibly fast when putting. “It's just purely hit and hope.”
• 🌬️The conditions we were promised at Pebble Beach last week never came, but they were here Thursday afternoon. Gusts climbed well into the 30 mph range. The 12th through 16th were particularly difficult. They were the fourth, sixth, ninth and No. 1 hardest holes on the course, respectively.