Scottie Scheffler berates US PGA organisers over mud balls
Scottie Scheffler has accused the organisers of the US PGA Championship of leaving elements of the major to 'chance' after their refusal to implement preferred lies for round one at Quail Hollow. The Charlotte venue was battered by rain between Friday and Wednesday; the upshot was mud balls for several competitors, including Scheffler.
On the 16th hole, his 8th, Scheffler found water from the middle of the fairway and made a double bogey. Scheffler recovered to post a two-under-par 69 but addressed the mud ball issue during media duties.
'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,' Scheffler said. 'It's frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it's going to go.
'You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball and due to a rules decision all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes. But I don't make the rules. I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules.'
Major championship committees are typically reluctant to implement preferred lies due to the perception it would devalue the tournament. Scheffler claimed he was 'not surprised' about the policy in North Carolina. He said: 'If you're going to go play links golf, there's absolutely no reason you should play the ball up. It doesn't matter how much rain they get. The course could be flooded and the ball is still going bounce 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. 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.
'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. I want the purest, fairest test of golf.'
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Xander Schauffele, who played alongside Scheffler, bemoaned the same scenario. 'The mud balls are going to get worse,' said the defending champion. '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. 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.'
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Royal Birkdale, England The Open: 1954, 1961, 1965, 1971, 1976, 1983, 1991, 1998. 2008, 2017 The best course in England is also the toughest if Mother Nature is in a links type of mood. Rolling through the dunes, the layout offers the complete challenge. If a links can be described as unfair then this is it. 8. Olympic Club, San Francisco US Open: 1955, 1966, 1987, 1998, 2012 Staged the 1955 US Open, which many believe presented the toughest post-war major challenge. The rough can be brutal, which is a problem as the fairways are tight. The slick, undulating greens only add to the torture. 7. Shinnecock Hills, New York US Open: 1896, 1986, 1995, 2004, 2018 Brilliant Long Island layout really does not need tricking up as the USGA stupidly did on the weekend of the 2004 US Open, neglecting to water the greens. If it is windy, then be prepared to be attacked from all directions. 6. Whistling Straits, Wisconsin US PGA: 2004, 2010, 2015 A merciless Pete Dye design. 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