SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Uncharacteristic was the word percolating Thursday at TPC Scottsdale.

Scottie Scheffler, the world No. 1 and overwhelming betting favorite at the WM Phoenix Open, opened with a 2-over 73 in a round that featured visible frustration and uncharacteristic mistakes from a man who has established himself as the game’s steadiest force.

In a week where sportsbooks were dominated by “Winner Without Scheffler” markets, only pessimists and oracles expected this type of showing out of the gates from the 29-year-old Texan. Scheffler began his 2026 season with a win at The American Express and arrived in the desert rested and primed, by his own accord.

Instead, he walked off the Stadium Course with five bogeys and a double against five birdies, already facing an uphill climb just to make the weekend.

Beginning on the back nine and opening with a birdie on No. 10, Scheffler’s round quickly turned on the par-4 11th, a hole he had foreshadowed his fate upon earlier in the week.

“The tee shot is easily the hardest on the golf course,” Scheffler said Wednesday. “The fairway from the tee box looks wide, but it plays extremely small. … If you hit up the left center of the fairway the ball is pretty much going to go in the water.”

His drive did exactly that.

The ball found the penalty area en route to his first bogey of the day, and the tone shifted. Scheffler went out in 35, but the body language told a different story. His approach play was leaky; he would lose approximately 0.7 strokes to the field with his irons, and his trademark world-class hands around the green deserted him entirely.

On his ninth hole of the morning, the par-4 18th, Scheffler missed the green from 114 yards. From there, he nearly duffed his chip, the ball tumbling back toward his feet as he reacted with rare, intense frustration.

The moment punctuated the most startling statistic of the day, where Scheffler lost more than two strokes to the field in Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green.

If that wasn’t low enough, the depths were tested at the par-4 second, his 11th hole of the day. Scheffler carded double bogey, marking his third consecutive hole of bogey or worse and dropping him to 2-over, a number that would hold to the finish.

For context, Scheffler made four bogeys total across four rounds at The American Express. By his 11th hole on Thursday in Scottsdale, he had already made his fifth of the day.

From a strokes-gained perspective, it was his worst round since the 2023 TOUR Championship, a jarring data point for a player who has made statistical dominance feel routine.

The hype surrounding Scheffler’s 2026 campaign had only intensified after his season-opening win. Last year’s slow start was attributed in part to a freak offseason hand injury that delayed his debut until the fifth event of 2025. There was no such rust this time. A healthy, rested Scheffler seemed poised to tighten his grip on the sport.

Even his T25 finish here last season, his worst result of the year, did little to temper expectations.

Now, the focus shifts from dominance to damage control.

Scheffler entered the week holding the PGA TOUR’s longest active cut streak, a distinction he inherited after Xander Schauffele’s slip at the Farmers Insurance Open. Extending it will require a sharp turnaround.

Following the round, Scheffler declined to speak with the media and headed directly to the practice facilities.

A 17th consecutive top-10 finish, a stretch that has bordered on absurd in its consistency, suddenly looks like a pipe dream. But if there is one player capable of erasing a Thursday stumble in the desert heat, it remains Scheffler.

Uncharacteristic, yes.

Terminal? That would be a far greater surprise.