LOS ANGELES — Scottie Scheffler’s run is still alive, barely.
Scheffler fought back all the way back from dead last on the leaderboard Friday morning to make the cut on the number at the midway point of the Genesis Invitational. After wrapping up his weather-delayed opening round in the morning, Scheffler posted a 3-under 68 in the second round to get to even par for the week.
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It took a 7-footer that Scheffler just narrowly snuck in for par on the final hole to keep him safe. Scheffler let out a fist pump after it fell, and then slowly walked to high-five his caddie in what was perhaps the most emotion he showed all day.
“I tried to make a mess of a pretty basic chip there on 18. Caught it a little thin and just dug in, so it was nice to be able to hole a putt and get another two cracks at the course,” he said. “I started the day not where I wanted to, but yeah, battled and it looks like I get another couple rounds to see what I can do.”
That final putt was enough to get him through to the weekend, giving him his 68th consecutive made cut. That’s the longest active streak on the PGA Tour, something Scheffler’s been building since late 2022. It’s by far the biggest active streak on tour, after Xander Schauffele’s 72-event cut streak was snapped last month. Harris English is the next closest with 22 straight made cuts.
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By comparison, Tiger Woods holds the all-time record with 142 consecutive cuts made from 1998-2005.
Scheffler’s last missed cut was at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August 2022. Since then, Scheffler has won 16 times on Tour, including at three major championships, and recorded 45 top-five finishes. He entered this week having finished no worse than T4 in his three starts this season, and he’s built up a ridiculous lead in the Official World Golf Rankings. Scheffler, who has been No. 1 since mid-2023, is nearly 300 points ahead of world No. 2 Rory McIlroy.
While he’s been historically great in recent years, Scheffler has struggled so far this week at Riviera Country Club. He was 5-over for the day without a single birdie when play was suspended on Thursday night, which forced him to finish eight holes early on Friday morning. Scheffler got two back early to wrap his 3-over 74 Round 1, and then he made three straight birdies at the turn of his second round to get right into the mix after yet another rough start to his round.
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But finally, it was a birdie save at the short par-5 17th that did it. Scheffler went up-and-down from the bunker to get to even par for the first time all day.
“[I was] very aware,” Scheffler said of the cutline. “I mean, I pretty much knew I had to get to at least even par with the way the conditions were.”
Even though Scheffler has managed to finish inside the top four in each of his last two starts, he’s had to fight back after slow starts — something that continued again this week in Los Angeles. He started the WM Phoenix Open 2-over before finishing T3, and was at even par last week at Pebble Beach before his T4 finish.
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Scheffler will enter the weekend 12 shots back of Marco Penge and Jacob Bridgeman, who share the lead at the midway point. McIlroy is just a shot back of that duo, too. Scheffler has a long way to go to even get within striking distance of the lead.
But if anyone has figured out how to pull that feat off on Tour time and again, it’s Scheffler.
“This place and I have like a weird relationship,” Scheffler said. “I feel like I can play so well out here and I just haven’t yet.”
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