Scottie Scheffler opens near the bottom of the Pebble Beach Pro-Am leaderboard

PEBBLE BEACH – Two fans in puffer vests, holding “infusion” cocktails, walked upriver from the 10th hole gallery as the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am opened Thursday.

“Well, Scheffler. That’s why there’s a crowd,” one of the middle-aged men said to the other.

Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world as of May 2023, should really be No. 1. 1 this week, except in the heavenly realm.

He was the odds-on favorite until his first fair ball plunged him into a tie for 64th in the 80-man field, while almost everyone else was caught out by hot sunny weather, with rain forecast for Sunday’s final round.

Leader Ryo Hisatsune went 10 under in his first ever round at Pebble, and of the 10 golfers who finished 7-under, six played Pebble Beach while the rest conquered Spyglass Hill.

Only two other golfers, each at 2-over, have earned a higher Pebble score than Scheffler.

“I feel like I’m good at putting and today I felt like I didn’t putt at all,” Scheffler said after birdieing the 18th. “Whatever it was that didn’t go right, it seemed to go that way, and I just felt like I scored a few goals.

“I actually feel like I’m playing really well. It’s just one of those days.”

The day came and went without seeing Taylor Swift, her son-in-law, Travis Kelce, worked the pro-am circuit at Spyglass Hill, as well as 49ers legends Steve Young and Alex Smith – a few familiar faces in what used to be an annual celebration of celebrities but now serves as the first Signature event of the PGA Tour this season.

Also at Spyglass was defending champion Rory McIlroy, who bogeyed the front of the 14th hole to go 4-under five, where his final score rested.

The scores were so low that a third of the field – 27 golfers – came in 5-under or less.

Scheffler’s line: three birdies, three bogeys, and one putter turned in disgust after missing a birdie and setting up a tap-in par on the 15th. He also had a “huge ball of mud” that interfered with his second shot on the second hole.

“When you play later in the day, it can be hard to cover putts on these greens,” said Scheffler, who played into the wind for most of the back 9 before finishing at 3:25 p.m.

Hisatsune, the first-round leader, went 5-of-7 out of the gate. The best was six consecutive birdies by Chris Gotterup, who won the Phoenix Open on Sunday in a playoff against Hideki Matsuyama, who finished 5 under as Scheffler’s playing partner on Thursday.

One good shot inside Scheffler’s even-par 72 confirmed his world No. Hackman.

Scheffler’s flop shot landed on the edge of the 10th green and he saved the par with a 7-foot putt.

“If that ball stays on the green as soft as the green is, it’s about a 15-footer for birdie,” Scheffler said of his 154-yard approach. “It sits about a foot off the edge and not only does it go into the basement, but it jumps over the top of that house. Luckily, despite the danger, I was able to balance. Little things like that are what I was going to deal with today.”

Last week, Scheffler opened the Phoenix Open with a 2-over 71. He rallied to threaten the leaders and finished tied for third.

Can he repeat those dramas here?