PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland – Scottie Scheffler bristled at the question.

“I don’t know how you want me to elaborate on that,” he said after his first round Thursday.

The result, though, was worth elaborating on.

Scheffler’s game fits links golf and The Open Championship to a tee. Tee to green, at least. Golf at The Open mandates players hit different trajectories and control their spin. It requires creativity on approach and around the greens. Scheffler’s swing is pieced together by athleticism and feel, a picture-perfect combo in the ever-evolving seaside conditions that throw everything at a golfer and wreak havoc on technique and timing. It’s golf for the adaptable. It’s golf for Scheffler.

Yet in his career, links golf, when held to Scheffler’s high standard, is the one area which he’s fallen short. Why? His putter.

He hasn’t gained strokes on the greens on any links course since 2021, including at the Genesis Scottish Open last week, when he let his emotions get the best of him on multiple occasions.

So on a day when Scheffler shot 3-under 68 despite hitting just three fairways and vaulted to within one shot of the lead at The Open, his putter was the story. Because, finally, he showed how perfect he is for links golf when the putts drop.

Back to the question. What changed from last week, when he lost strokes on the greens for the sixth straight event on a links course, to Thursday?

“Different greens, different surface. These greens, it's just different,” he said. I don't know how you want me to elaborate on that.”

Pressed with a follow-up, he did.

“Putting is one of those deals where, especially when there's a little bit of activity on the greens, you can hit a lot of good putts that don't go in,” Scheffler said. “I'm trying to do my best to be perfect every week, but some weeks the putts just aren't going in, and did a good job battling last week to finish top 10.”

Maybe it’s that simple. Maybe the sample size was too small and maybe the putts were good but just didn’t fall. But Scheffler was singing a similar tune back in 2023, when his putter proved too big an issue to ignore. That led to him changing from a blade to a mallet putter and adding Phil Kenyon as a putting coach, the only other coach besides Randy Smith that Scheffler’s ever had. They were drastic changes for a golfer who hasn’t changed his warmup routine since he was a junior.

In the two years since, Scheffler has slowly but surely solved his putting. He’s inside the top 25 in Strokes Gained: Putting now. It’s no longer a detriment, it’s actually an asset. Except on links courses, where the trend of struggles persisted. Until Thursday.

Scheffler gained more than two strokes on Royal Portrush’s greens, 11th best in the field, and rocketed up the board accordingly. He holed an 18-foot birdie on the third to get into red numbers and stayed in red numbers with a 10-foot par putt on the fourth. Two good shots into the par-5 seventh led to another easy birdie, and he holed another clutch 7-foot par putt on the eighth to keep the momentum.

Riding the hot putter for long enough to get the rest of his game going, Scheffler hit two of the best approach shots on the day at the 16th and 17th, both inside four feet, to add a pair of late birdies.

It counteracted a day in which Scheffler felt he hit a lot of good drives but only found the fairway three times and also lost strokes around the greens. His two lone bogeys of the day were born from issues off the tee. His reliable approach play helped neutralize some of that and the rest was up to whether he made or missed the putts.

It’s no guarantee Scheffler will maintain his putting performance throughout the week. The statistics would say it’s unlikely. But Thursday was a reminder how easy golf can look for Scheffler when the putts are falling. We hadn’t seen that in any of his previous four Open Championships. Now we have. That should scare the rest of the field at The Open.