Xander Schauffele has got a mountain to climb if he is going to retain his PGA Championship crown at Quail Hollow, with the world number three finishing one over par for his first round.
The dream grouping of Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy failed to capture the imagination during the opening day’s play at the PGA Championship. Scheffler had the best day of the trio after ending up at two under par.
Meanwhile, McIlroy is facing a battle to even make the cut at Quail Hollow. The Masters champion is three over par.
Schauffele is two shots better off than McIlroy, but he also has plenty of work to do. And there is no question which hole caused the most problems for the top three players in the world rankings.
Xander Schauffele makes an alarming prediction after his opening round at the PGA Championship
The trio all made a double bogey on the 16th hole. And it seems that the ground conditions caused a few issues, with the PGA of America not allowing preferred lies in the fairway.
Of course, Quail Hollow has dealt with a lot of rain in recent days. And, perhaps worryingly, Schauffele predicted that the problem is only likely to get worse as the course starts to dry out.
“The mud balls are going to get worse. That wasn’t your question, but they’re going to get worse as the plays dries up. They’re going to get in that perfect cake zone to where it’s kind of muddy underneath and then picking up mud on the way through. I mean, you just keep — I don’t know, maybe it hit it a little bit lower off the tee, but then unfortunately the problem with hitting it low off the tee is the ball doesn’t carry or roll anywhere, so then you sacrifice distance. It’s a bit of a crapshoot,” he said.
“A lot of the same. If I can keep hitting the driver in the fairway, I’ll be fine.”
“All of us [had mud balls]. I’m not the only guy. I’m just in front of the camera. I wouldn’t want to go in the locker room because I’m sure a lot of guys aren’t super happy with sort of the conditions there. I feel like the grass is so good, there is no real advantage to cleaning your ball in the fairway. The course is completely tipped out,” he added.
“It sucks that you’re kind of 50/50 once you hit the fairway.
“It’s just wherever it ends up on the ball. I got lucky three or four holes in a row where it ended up sort of on the top of my ball and then you’re kind of guessing how much spin it’s going to take off. But back to my round, that’s my bit there on mud balls. I think I hit a lot of fairways compared to how I’ve been driving it recently. Felt like I put a lot of good swings on it and just didn’t get enough out of my rounds, especially on the par-5s.”
Xander Schauffele issues his verdict on his opening round at Quail Hollow
Despite the concern, it seems that Schauffele’s game is in a good place. He went into the week off the back of four top 20s in a row.
It is going to require some impressive scores over the next three days to extend that run. But Schauffele suggested that he was pleased with his performance on Thursday, despite the difficulties dealing with the course conditions.
“Yeah, I’ve got to look through it. I think there’s a lot more good in there than bad. Had a ridiculous mud ball there on 16 with Scottie. We were in the middle of the fairway, and I don’t know, we had to aim right of the grandstands probably. I’m not sure. I aimed right of the bunker and it whipped in the water and Scottie whipped it in the water, as well,” he said.
“It is what it is, and 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.”
It is a balancing act. With the weather much improved, the PGA of America must have felt that they had little choice but to not take action considering how rarely they do allow preferred lies.
But clearly, the decision opens the door for a more unpredictable result.
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