PINEHURST, N.C. – Twice in his post-round interview, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler known as the Pinehurst No. 2 course “enjoyable,” however did he have enjoyable?
“Enjoying poor golf is just not enjoyable however I just like the difficult side of it and I’ll sit again the following few days and take into consideration what went incorrect,” Scheffler mentioned following a 4-over 74 that had him teetering simply contained in the projected minimize line when he accomplished his second spherical on the U.S. Open.
If he does miss the weekend, it should mark his first missed minimize because the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship. That didn’t appear to hassle him; what did, was how he arrived at his precarious place.
It’s been an odd week for Scheffler, and that’s saying one thing contemplating he was capable of publish a top-10 end on the PGA Championship after spending Friday morning in jail on prices which have since been dropped. His opening spherical at Pinehurst was marked by uncharacteristically poor ball-striking.
He was capable of publish a 1-over 71 Thursday, regardless of giving pictures to the sphere off the tee and hitting simply six of 14 fairways, due to a stable day on the greens. On Day 2, he was capable of enhance his play off the tee however struggled on and round Pinehurst’s domed greens. That included making a double-bogey 7 on the par-5 fifth gap after being entangled in a single the enduring course’s native areas.
“I don’t really feel like my recreation could be very far off. I had someday this week the place, yesterday, after I wasn’t swinging my finest however I used to be capable of publish a rating and as we speak I simply couldn’t get something moving into a optimistic route,” he mentioned. “I wasn’t seeing the break proper on the greens, wasn’t capable of hit shut sufficient to the opening down the stretch to get some shut appears to be like. I’ll return and assess my prep for this week, see what I may have performed in a different way after which see what I may have performed in a different way mentally the final couple of days.”
A part of that evaluation can be his schedule. Like many of the recreation’s high gamers, Scheffler performed final week’s Memorial which is among the PGA Tour’s signature occasions and one of many 12 months’s most grueling assessments. Though the Tour didn’t give gamers a lot of a selection, Scheffler mentioned he would possibly rethink taking part in the week earlier than a serious.
“I’ve performed the week earlier than majors a couple of occasions and the one one I particularly bear in mind was going into the Masters my rookie 12 months; I performed actually good on the [2021 WGC-Match Play] and misplaced to [Billy Horschel] within the finals after which I went and performed San Antonio which I don’t assume I ought to have performed,” he mentioned. “Going ahead, that’s one thing I’m actually going to take a tougher have a look at, my prep for the majors.”
Even when Scheffler doesn’t miss the minimize he’ll have a troublesome time maintaining his streak of consecutive top-20 finishes alive, which started finally 12 months’s BMW Championship and now stands at 15. He’s at present tied for 79th.
