CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Scottie Scheffler joked about still having the honor on the tee after walking off with a double-bogey 6.
He wasn’t too pleased, however, when discussing the reason for the high score during the first round of the PGA Championship—mud on his ball in the 16th fairway that caused his approach shot to hook violently into the water.
Scheffler, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, managed to rebound to shoot 69 at the Quail Hollow Club and lead the marquee group of Masters champion Rory McIlroy, who shot 74, and defending champion Xander Schauffele, who shot 72.
He was three shots behind early leader Ryan Gerard, who shot 66.
But he got a bit testy about questions over the PGA of America’s decision to not play preferred lies for the first round, a topic that was at the forefront of the year’s second major championship.
“I don’t make the rules,” Scheffler said. “I think when you’re looking at the purest forms of golf, like if you’re going to go play links golf, there’s absolutely no reason on a links golf course [used for the British Open] you should play the ball up. It doesn’t matter how much rain they get. The course could be flooded under water and the ball is still going bounce somehow because of the way the turf is and the ground underneath the turf.
“In American golf it’s significantly different. When you have overseeded fairways that are not sand-capped, there’s going to be a lot of mud on the ball, and that’s just part of it. When you think about the purest test of golf, I don’t personally think that hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway you should get punished for.
“On a golf course as good of condition as this one is, this is probably a situation in which it would be the least likely difference in playing it up because most of the lies you get out here are all really good. So 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.
“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. 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.”
The PGA Tour will occasionally play preferred lies because it is a matter of expediency. The alternative is to not play at all and it helps move the tournament along. In those situations, a player who hits his ball in the fairway is allowed to mark his ball, clean it and replace it near where it was lifted.
And yet, Scheffler said he wasn’t really surprised by the decision. That’s because he knows that almost without exception, the major championships do not invoke the local rule which allows for preferred lies.
The PGA of America nonetheless made the decision to announce it would not be doing what it normally does not do anyway.
“We do not plan to play preferred lies,” the PGA of America said Wednesday in a statement. “The playing surfaces are outstanding and are drying by the hour. We are mowing the fairways this evening.”
The Masters, U.S. Open and British Open simply don’t do it. If conditions are such that there is too much water on the course, play is halted. Otherwise, it’s play the ball as it lies, as the rules are written.
The PGA of America did use preferred lies—also known as lift, clean and place—during the fourth round of the 2016 PGA Championship at Baltusrol, where the tournament was plagued by poor weather.
“I was surprised but it wasn’t horrible, to be fair,” said Tommy Fleetwood after shooting 70. “It probably worked out fine. You were not hitting clean golf balls all the time. You definitely had some mud at times and it’s up to you to figure out how to control your ball.”
Jon Rahm is another player who said he was surprised that the PGA did not invoke the rule that allows for preferred lies but said he felt fortunate it wasn’t a big problem.
“The golf course is in such terrific shape,” he said.
Scheffler lamented the fact that he hit a perfect drive on the par-4 16th hole and felt penalized because of the mud on the ball. Schauffele, who was very close to the same spot, did the same thing, sending his approach shot long and left of the green and into the water.
Mud on one side of the ball causes it to act inconsistently, often causing it to fly in the opposite direction.
“Had a ridiculous mud ball there on 16 with Scottie,” Schauffele said. “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. 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.”
Neither Scheffler nor Schauffele expect any change in the situation as the tournament progresses, even if it is just as likely to play an outcome in the event.
“The mud balls are going to get worse,” Schauffele said. “That wasn’t your question, but they’re going to get worse as the place 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 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.
“A lot of the same. If I can keep hitting the driver in the fairway, I’ll be fine.”
McIlroy, who didn’t speak to the media afterward, had trouble finding the fairway. He hit just two of his first 11 fairways and only four of 14 for the round. His 74 was just one off his highest score in the PGA, shot twice.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘I Want the Fairest Test’: Scottie Scheffler, Others Lament Mud Balls at PGA Championship.
