OAKMONT, Pa. — Despite shooting an uncharacteristic 1-over 71 in the second round of the U.S. Open on Friday, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said he felt a sense of relief in his ability to limit the damage on the notoriously difficult course.
“I feel like I battled really hard,” Scheffler said after his round. “It’s challenging out there. I was not getting the ball in the correct spots and paying the price for it.
“Felt like me getting away with 1-over today wasn’t all that bad. It could have been a lot worse.”
Though Scheffler carded five bogeys, he also had four birdies. A day earlier, he had six bogeys and just three birdies in a round of 73.
Friday marked Scheffler’s sixth consecutive over-par round at the U.S. Open, including all four rounds last year at Pinehurst No. 2.
Scheffler’s rollercoaster second round started with a birdie on No. 10. He stayed 1 under through the next four holes until a bogey on 15. From there, he bogeyed four of the next eight holes, but he also recorded birdies on Nos. 2 and 4.
“Any time you’re not hitting it the way or playing up to my expectations, I think it’s frustrating,” said Scheffler, who was back on the range with his coaches working on his swing shortly after his round ended. “Mentally this was as tough as I’ve battled for the whole day. … Overall definitely not out of the tournament. Today was I think with the way I was hitting it was easily a day I could have been going home and battled pretty hard to stay in there.”
Scheffler hit into the course’s signature church pew bunkers three times, including off his tee shot on No. 3. Normally even-keeled, Scheffler slammed his driver in frustration as the ball landed in the sand between berms.
“When you get the ball out of position here, you’ve just got to try to get the ball back in play,” Scheffler said. “That’s really all there is to it. You can get lucky sometimes and get a lie and maybe be able to get something to the green. But that wasn’t really happening for me today. I decided to just keep hitting it in the rough for some reason.”
For Scheffler, the key to finishing the day without falling further off the lead was remaining patient throughout a round that took more than 5 1/2 hours.
“There were some times today where you feel like you could give up, just based on how difficult the golf course is, how my swing was feeling,” he said. “… It’s like, am I going to get mad about it, get frustrated, or am I just going to chip it out and see what I can do from there? I felt like that’s what a lot of today was about. “… At the U.S. Open I don’t think you’re ever out of the tournament. Put together two decent days, I may be in 25th or 30th place or something like that after today, and like I said, by no means is that out of the tournament.”
Source: espn.com