‘It sucks!’ Top stars fume as controversial rules decision wreaks havoc at PGA Championship
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Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele struggled to hide their disdain after a disappointing opening round at Quail Hollow.
It takes a lot to rile up Scottie Scheffler.
The impossibly mild-mannered American was in jovial spirits on the eve of the 107th PGA Championship, even throwing out a callback to his arrest at last year’s tournament with an orange shirt to mimic the jumpsuit in which he spent a few hours on a wild day in Valhalla.
But just a few hours later there were a few raised eyebrows when the PGA of America confirmed that preferred lies would not be in play for Thursday’s opening round.
Monday’s practice round had been completely wiped out as torrential rain and thunderstorms settled in over the Charlotte area. And although the weather did pick up on Tuesday and Wednesday, Quail Hollow’s greens staff had to crank the SubAir System up to 11 in a bid to get the course back in shape for the strongest field in golf.
And while no one wants to see preferred lies in play in a major championship, it didn’t take long before it became clear that perhaps the powers that be had made the wrong call, as mudballs wreaked havoc with scorecards throughout the field.
And Scheffler, in a rare instance of allowing his frustrations to boil over in front of the world’s press, was in no doubt that they should have been allowed to play the ball up.
“By the way, this is going to be the last answer that I give on playing it up or down,” the World No.1 said following his 2-under 69.
He then made sure he got everything off his chest.
“I mean, I don’t make the rules,” he continued.
“I think when you’re looking at the purest forms of golf, there’s absolutely no reason on a links course 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 over-seeded 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 [is something] you should get punished for.”
At least we now know where Scheffler stands on the playing from divots debate. But he was far from done in his mudball rant.
“On a golf course as good of conditioned 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,” he explained.
“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.
“But like I said, I don’t make the rules. I deal with what the rules decisions are.”
Ultimately, though, Scheffler is pleased with how he handled the situation.
“I could have let that bother me today when you got a mudball and it cost me a couple of shots,” he said.
“It cost me possibly two shots on one hole, and if I let that bother me, it could cost me five shots the rest of the round. But today I was proud of how I stayed in there, didn’t let it get to me and was able to play some solid golf on a day in which I was a bit all over the place and still post a score.”
And if the PGA thought they would get any back-up from their defending champion, they were wrong.
Xander Schauffele, who opened with a 1-over-par 73, said: “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.
“It sucks that you’re kind of 50/50 once you hit the fairway. 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.”
Scheffler and World No.1 Schauffele will resume their bid to lift the Wanamaker Trophy alongside Rory McIlroy, who carded a disappointing 74, on Friday afternoon.
