Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele put PGA Championship on blast over mud balls

National Post

15-05-2025

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — It's not every day the world's three best players all make double bogeys on the same hole.
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That's exactly what happened to the marquee group of Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy at the PGA Championship on Thursday at Quail Hollow — and the golf superstars were not very happy about how it happened.
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'I hit in the middle of the fairway, you've got mud on your ball, and it's tough to control where it goes after that,' World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler said after shooting a two-under par 69. 'I kept the honour 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.'
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There are very few things that get under the skin of pro golfers like mud balls. With early week torrential downpours mixing with Thursday's opening-round sunshine in Charlotte, the recipe was perfect for golf balls to pick up mud in the fairways as the course dried out.
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'It is what it is and a lot of guys are dealing with it,' Xander Schauffele said after shooting a one-over 72. 'But it's just unfortunate to be hitting good shots and to pay them off that way. It's kind of stupid.'
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Not every player left the course complaining. European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald shot a surprising four-under 67 and said he avoided the worst of it.
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'I didn't have any mud balls, per se,' Donald said. 'It was just sort of a watery, muddy residue on it, at times. It wasn't really lumps of mud, which that's when it gets very dicey.'
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Jon Rahm said much the same after his 1-under 70, saying some specks of mud were the worst he had to deal with.
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Thick mud on a golf ball can add an impossible variable to golf shots as the unbalanced ball spins wildly and uncontrollably once in the air.
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'We were in the middle of the fairway and, I don't know, we had to aim right of the grandstands probably,' Shauffele said. '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.'
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In these conditions, the players would always prefer if tournament organizer implemented preferred lies, where they are allowed to lift, clean and place their golf ball and avoid these situations.
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But this is a major championship. Not only that, this is a major championship already facing some criticism that this year's edition is simply a glorified PGA Tour event, considering it's being played at a course the tour stops at every year with very few changes made for the PGA Championship.
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'I don't make the rules,' Scheffler said. 'I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules. 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. I did a good job battling after that and posting a decent score.'
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Rory McIlroy avoided a mud ball on the hole by missing the fairway, but slipped in the damp rough while attempting to hit his recovery shot and looked down at his shoe spikes afterward. The Masters champ shot a disappointing three-over 74.