PINEHURST, N.C. — Maybe Scottie Scheffler was simply due to run into one of these weeks.
Maybe the strain of dominating the game for as long as he has, carrying the No. 1 world ranking, winning tournaments, being in contention every week, having his first child born, and even being wrongfully arrested and thrown in jail before his second round of the PGA finally took a toll on the 27-year-old Scheffler.
“How was today?’’ Scheffler said Saturday, repeating a reporter’s question after he shot 1-over 71 in the U.S. Open third round at Pinehurst No. 2, leaving him at 6-over and miles from contention.
“Another frustrating day. Today was a day where I thought I played a lot better than my score. I’m having a lot of trouble reading these greens. I had a lot of putts today where I felt like I hit it really good, [and] I looked up and they were not going the way I thought they were going to go.
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“My swing today felt a lot better than it did [Friday]. I felt like the last 27 holes I’ve played, I’ve hit it really nice, but I just haven’t been able to hit it quite close enough, which is difficult around this course. I haven’t been able to hole the putts the last few days.’’
Because he’s been so good for so long, it was a shock to the system to see Scheffler struggle to merely make the cut on the line at 5-over Friday.
“The game of golf is a mental torture chamber at times, especially the U.S. Open,’’ Scheffler said. “Yeah, I thought it was challenging. The first 27 holes, I was in the native area way too much of the time. Everything felt really tough.
“Now that I was able to hit a lot more fairways today, it maybe felt a touch easier to me.’’
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Then Scheffler said, “I wouldn’t be using me as a bearing for what’s good right now. Pretty mediocre at best right now.’’
Mediocre Scottie Scheffler is Bizarro World Scottie Scheffler.
Because that’s how high he’s raised the bar for himself.
Prodded by a reporter, Scheffler refused to go down a road complaining about the course setup or whether it’s been fair or unfair — a lament the USGA often hears from players.
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“When it comes to the U.S. Open, ‘borderline’ is such like a trigger word,’’ Scheffler said. “No matter what I think, you have a pretty good understanding of where you’re trying to hit the ball. It’s when I start not hitting the ball into the places where you should hit the ball, that’s where things get tricky.
“I think about No. 5. [Friday] I made double. Hit it in the waste area, bad break, can’t get it up on the green. The next one, there’s not enough sand underneath the ball. You can blame it on luck or whatever.
“I knew not to hit the ball down there. I knew where to hit it and not to hit it. If you’re hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway, in the middle of the green, you can definitely make 18 pars.
“Now, granted, misses are going to hurt here more than next week at Travelers. That’s just the nature of the golf course, the nature of the tournament. You’re going to get injured more here for a bad shot than last week at Memorial. That’s just how the U.S. Open is.’’
What’s next for Scheffler, who is scheduled to play the Travelers Championship next week?
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“I’ll show up tomorrow morning ready to play,’’ he said. “I’ll wake up in the morning, get ready to come out to the course again, see if I can learn. Hopefully going into tomorrow, as far as goals, I don’t really think about it. I’ll try to have a good round tomorrow.’’
Scheffler was asked about the advantages and disadvantages of playing a tournament the week before a major championship.
He played the Memorial last week and won it.
But he didn’t come to Pinehurst on a pre-tournament scouting trip.
“I thought about that a bit yesterday afternoon,’’ Scheffler said of his preparation for a major. “In terms of prep work for a week that I know is going to be as tough as this, I’m leaning going forward to maybe not playing the week before. I think especially going around Jack’s place, which is going to be pretty close [to a major]. I did most of my damage under par there at the beginning of the week.
“I think going into the major championships, especially the ones we know are going to be really challenging, it may be in my best interest not to play the week before. That’s stuff for me to figure out later in the year. Those were some of my thoughts [Friday] sitting around watching the cut.’’
