Scottie Scheffler makes surprising admission after Scottish Open opening round

Scottie Scheffler admitted the new routing at The Renaissance Club left him scratching his head during his opening round of the Genesis Scottish Open — but the World No.1 had no doubts about one thing: the course's greens have never looked better.

Scheffler, 30, carded a steady two-under 68 to sit three shots off the early lead as he began his bid for a first Genesis Scottish Open title.

This year's co-sanctioned DP World Tour and PGA Tour event has introduced a significant change to the Tom Doak-designed layout in North Berwick. 

While the 8th, 9th, 17th and 18th holes remain unchanged, the rest of the routing has effectively been reversed, with the previous front nine and back nine swapping places.

The changes have taken some getting used to — even for the world's best player.

Discussing one of his key par saves, Scheffler found himself struggling to remember which hole he was talking about.

"Cut, slice. It was actually the 2nd," Scheffler said.

"I fortunately — fortunately or unfortunately, however you want to look at it, I hit a good shot off the 3rd tee, and just overall to the fairway, so I hit a similar shot there to get the ball in the fairway from that pot bunker -- I don't know whether you call it a bunker but out of that bunker specifically.

"So the next one there on, I guess what hole is that, 16? Sorry, the nines are confusing. Just a big 'ole slice out of the bunker. It was unfortunate, the ball ends up in there but I was able to hit a really nice shot there and still make par there. That was nice."

One of the most noticeable changes sees the popular stadium-style par-3 6th become the 15th, while the demanding closing stretch of the par-3 17th and par-4 18th remains untouched and is once again expected to play a decisive role on Sunday.

Although day-one scoring was relatively modest despite calm, sunny conditions in East Lothian, Scheffler believes the challenging pin positions were a major factor.

"It could be pin location, maybe... that would be the first thing I could think of," Scheffler said, before praising improved putting surfaces this week. 

"But the greens, I think are in better condition than they have been in the last couple years, so that's been good to see some improvement there."

Scheffler heads into Friday's second round just three shots behind a five-man group on five-under par, including Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Tom Kim, Bernd Wiesberger and Rasmus Højgaard.

McIlroy credited extended time away from the sport with his family as a big reason for his fast start. 

The grand slam champion closed out his round with a stunning up-and-down par save from the greenside bunker on the par-3 9th. 

McIlroy has now shot 13 consecutive rounds in the 60s at the Genesis Scottish Open, and is 47-under par during that period. 

Five-time major champion Brooks Koepka is one shot further back after an opening 66, while Scheffler's playing partners Tommy Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick both opened with three-under 67s.

Scheffler, a four-time major champion, will next week bid to become the first player to successfully defend The Open since Padraig Harrington in 2008.