Scottie Scheffler Leads for Hometown Crowds at AT&T Byron Nelson

Scottie Scheffler and Ryan Palmer—two Dallas residents who share the same swing coach—are at the top of the Byron Nelson leaderboard.

It comes as no surprise that Scottie Scheffler, the current world No. 2 and 2023 Players champion, sits at the top of the leaderboard at the AT&T Byron Nelson. With back-to-back 64s, Scheffler leads by one stroke over Mackenzie Hughes and Ryan Palmer, a fellow Dallas resident. 

Despite the matching scores, Scheffler’s Friday round looked quite different than his Thursday start. The Texan had a near clean scorecard at TPC Craig Ranch. His lone bogey came on the par-4 8th hole, but he bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 9th, his final hole of the day. On Day 1, Scheffler was six under par in his first six holes, but only one under in his last 12—and he eagled the 18th. 

“It’s always nice finishing with a birdie, especially because I was a little frustrated after bogeying No. 8. That’s typically a birdie opportunity, but I made a little bit of a mess there, and then kind of bounced back on No. 9,” Scheffler said. 

The local event has allowed Scheffler to sleep in his own bed this week, and his caddie, Ted Scott, is staying at the Scheffler residence as well. The added convenience didn’t help Scheffler out much on Thursday morning, however, as his 8:34 a.m. tee time required a 4:20 a.m. wake up. 

“I woke up ready to go. Usually if I was waking up at 4:20 on a regular Monday after a tournament, I definitely wouldn't be in a good mood, but when you're waking up to come play a golf tournament, it's a little bit of a different feeling,” Scheffler said. 

The Texan shared the details of his early alarm when he was mic’d up on PGA Tour Live, warming up at the driving range. 

We spoke with Scottie Scheffler live on the range this morning as he warmed up for Round 2 @ATTByronNelson 🎙️🔊 pic.twitter.com/vpzXHHMHtP

— PGA TOUR LIVE (@PGATOURLIVE) May 12, 2023

Scheffler’s commute to TPC Craig Ranch is about a half hour. He moved to the Dallas area at age six, and he grew up honing his golf game at Royal Oaks Golf Club with swing coach Randy Smith.  

Palmer, who sits one shot behind Scheffler at 13 under, also happens to work with the top tier instructor. The 46-year-old had a front row seat to the development of Scheffler’s swing though his high school and college years. 

“We both have the same coach, Randy Smith, and I remember him not as big as he is today and hitting balls with him on the range, and then he’d come back from college when he was at Texas and just knew him through those years, and then all of a sudden when he got here, knew he was going to be a pretty good player. Of course he's a great player, obviously.

“It’s fun. We have a lot of great times together practicing. We work out together with Dr. Troy Van Biezen in Dallas. We knew each other a lot. It would be fun to get paired with him tomorrow, so we’ll see what happens,” Palmer said.