PINEHURST, N.C. – Driving the ball in addition to he ever has, Xander Schauffele nonetheless managed to clank one off a pine tree left of the par-5 fifth gap Friday, his ball tumbling into native space quick and left of the golf green, simply 186 yards away.
Someway, it solely acquired tougher from there – for all three of the celebrities within the group.
There are solely two par 5s at Pinehurst No. 2, and the reachable fifth gap – notably with its treacherous back-left gap location, with the slopes operating away on all sides – gave the three finest gamers on this planet matches on the U.S. Open.
After getting again into place following the wayward drive, Schauffele’s 200-yard third shot caught the extreme slopes across the flag and dove onerous left of the inexperienced, down into the sandy waste space. Already in an identical spot have been Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, each of whom didn’t preserve the ball on the placing floor with the onerous right-to-left motion within the inexperienced.
“You’re hitting off a lie with the ball above your toes, and the wind is a spark off the best as effectively,” McIlroy mentioned. “It’s onerous to not let that ball go left on you together with your second shot. I’d say there’s going to be a variety of guys down in that left sandy space as we speak.”
Few had as a lot bother as this group.
Scheffler was the primary to play from the native space.
With a tuft of wiregrass forward of his ball, the world No. 1 was unable to play a chasing, bump-and-run shot like he initially wished. With no selection however to go for the splash-out, Scheffler’s shot didn’t carry the crest of the hill and got here again down, nearly to its authentic spot. Along with his subsequent shot, he didn’t take any probabilities, blasting out previous the flag, however the slope behind the opening carried all of it the best way off the inexperienced and onto the carefully mown space lengthy.
“I feel that’s a part of the thriller of the sandy areas,” Scheffler mentioned. “You get down there and it’s luck of the draw whether or not or not you have got a shot. Actually, all you’re making an attempt to do from there’s get it as much as the inexperienced someplace, and I felt like I took the very best route I may consider at first, and simply because it’s so unpredictable. Only a fairly difficult spot to your ball to finish up in.”
After Scheffler didn’t get up-and-down from the again, he walked off with a double-bogey 7 to tumble towards the minimize line.
Strolling off the inexperienced, he muttered, “That’s the dumbest factor I’ve ever seen.”
Scheffler, Schauffele, and McIlroy battle on fifth
Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler, and Xander Schauffele all battle with misfortune on the fifth gap throughout the second spherical of the 2024 U.S. Open.
Schauffele didn’t have a better time.
After Schauffele’s caddie advised him simply to present himself a putt to avoid wasting par, Schauffele, like Scheffler earlier than him, additionally didn’t clear the slope together with his shot from the sand. In the long run, his ball rolled again 2 toes in entrance of him.
“That pissed me off,” Schauffele mentioned.
“You possibly can hit a very good shot,” he continued. “It’s kind of like a bunker. You don’t actually belief what’s beneath versus like an precise bunker. There’s a ton of sand within the bunker. You wish to hit it onerous, down into the bottom. However you’re apprehensive is there extra sand or much less sand. That little little bit of hesitation will not be good when your room for margin isn’t that good.”
Needing to strive an identical shot once more, Schauffele pounded down on the ball and despatched it out 9 toes previous the flag, the backspin he created a minimum of protecting it from funneling off the again of the inexperienced. His putt for bogey missed, and he recorded a 7 – identical to Scheffler.
Watching the entire carnage was McIlroy, whose ball got here to relaxation nearest to the flag. He took a straight-faced membership, bumped his ball into the steep slope and watched because it rolled all the best way off the again. From there, he chipped to 9 toes, and he pumped his fist when his ball discovered the underside of the cup for a hard-earned par.
“I used to be fairly pleased with mine simply to get it over the opposite facet of the inexperienced and get it up-and-down for five,” he mentioned.
In all, the group was on the opening for about 45 minutes – a two-group wait on the tee, one other lengthy pause within the fairway, after which the catastrophe across the inexperienced. Scheffler and Schauffele accounted for 2 of the six morning-wave doubles or worse on what was nonetheless, statistically, the simplest gap on the course to par.
“It’s doable,” Schauffele mentioned. “I’m certain there shall be a spotlight of somebody holing out or hitting a really shut shot out of there. It’s very doable. We simply made a large number of it.”