Schaeffler’s season starts late by his lofty standards, but he remains a beat-up man.
The 28-year-old American arrived in Augusta feeling that he was peaking at the right time when he was trying to deploy a ravioli in a wine glass on Christmas Day, being hampered by a hand injury.
Schaeffler finished co-runners-up at Houston two weeks ago, putting another warning to his rival that he was finding form as the main season begins with the Masters.
He’s not at his best clinically, but he’s in a strong position in a bogey-free round – and has the ability to go further in gear over the next three days, creepy for his rivals.
His driving and iron approach was solid and enhanced by converting some long putts.
Schaeffler set the tone with his second most confident birdie putt, landing the monster from 62 feet in the fourth, leading the patrons to joy, and adding another shorter in the ninth.
The first real mistake of the two-time champions of the day came when he had to leave 13 to 7 feet and settle for par.
However, he made the correction by holling twice from 42 feet on par 3 Shry 16.
“I felt pretty good. Whenever I can keep the cards clean here, that’s really good,” Schaeffler said.
“I had to make two really good ups and downs. But aside from that, the golf course was in front of me most days, I kept playing the ball and did really good things.”
