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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The PGA Championship put the top three players in the world together for the first time in three years on Thursday and the conversation turned to mud.
Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele each had clumps of mud on their golf balls from the middle of the 16th fairway — the hardest hole at Quail Hollow — and saw their shots curve hard to the left, over the green and into the water, leading to double bogeys.
It was like that for most of the day, the product on a course that has been soaked by heavy showers in the three days leading up to the second major of the year, and more rain from late last week.
The PGA of America put out a notice on the eve of the first round saying that the ball would be played as it lies because the turf was “outstanding and drying by the hour.”
“We are looking forward to an exciting opening round,” the statement said.
Maybe just not this variety.
“It’s frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it’s going to go,” said Scheffler, the No. 1 player in golf the last two years. “I understand it’s part of the game, but there’s nothing more frustrating for a player. You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball, and due to a rules decision all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes.
“But I don’t make the rules,” he said. “I just have to deal with the consequences.”
He managed a 2-under 69, helped by twice holing shots from off the green — a chip-in from deep rough behind the 12th green (after another mud ball from the fairway), and putting in from just off the green at the par-5 15th for eagle.
And then came the double bogey — by each player in the marquee group — on the 16th.
“I did a good job of battling back today and not letting a bad break like that — which cost me a couple shots — get to me,” Scheffler said. “Did a good job battling after that and posting a decent score.”
Schauffele, the No. 3 player in the world and defending PGA champion, opened with a 1-over 72 and was leaning back in a leather chair in the locker room when he looked up and saw television replaying his shot on the 16th.
He was aiming beyond the bunker right of the green and figures he probably should have been aiming toward where the gallery was watching.
“A lot of guys are dealing with it, but it’s just unfortunate to be hitting good shots and to pay them off that way. It’s kind of stupid,” he said.
McIlroy shot 74 and the Masters champion declined to speak to the media. He might not have been a good authority on mud balls because McIlroy was rarely in the fairway, hitting only four of them for the round.
He also made double bogey on the 16th because of a different kind of conditions. McIlroy hit so far left that he was beyond the fairway down a grassy hill, the golf ball well above his shoes. As he tried to swing, his left foot spun out and he was lucky to make contact, advancing it some 30 yards, still in the rough.
Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the world all made a 6.
“I kept the honor with making a double on a hole, and I think that will probably be the first and last time I do that in my career unless we get some crazy weather conditions,” Scheffler said.
That made him laugh. Little else did, particularly the decision to play the ball down. The U.S. Open never allows players to lift, clean and place the golf balls in the short grass. The PGA Championship did once during a rain-soaked weak at Baltusrol in 2016.
Scheffler and Schauffele argued that Quail Hollow is pristine enough that cleaning mud off golf balls would not allow for a better lie than if it were dry.
He said American courses — different from links golf for the British Open — are overseeded and lush and are bound to pick up mud, particularly when the sun returns after heavy rain.
“I understand how a golf purist would be, ‘Oh, play it as it lies.’ But I don’t think they understand what it’s like literally working your entire life to learn how to hit a golf ball and control it and hit shots and control distance, and all of a sudden due to a rules decision that is completely taken away from us by chance,” Scheffler said.
“In golf, there’s enough luck throughout a 72-hole tournament that I don’t think the story should be whether or not the ball is played up or down,” he said. “When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion maybe the ball today should have been played up.”
Schauffele disliked the idea of hitting the fairway and having a 50-50 chance at a good shot from there because of mud splotches. Toward the end of his round, he was happy to have mud on the top of his golf ball instead of the sides. Then it was only a matter of how it would affect distance instead of direction.
And there was one other aspect to these mud balls. Schauffele glanced again at the television and saw Ryan Gerard at 7 under through 16 holes, before he bogeyed the last two for a 66.
“Yes, it was frustrating, but everyone had it,” Schauffele said. “There’s a guy shooting 7 under right now. So clearly I’m just being a huge baby.”
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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