Scottie Scheffler Has Work to Do After First Round at U.S. Open

OAKMONT, Pa. — Scottie Scheffler isn’t surprised someone managed to put up a good score during the first round of the U.S. Open at Oakmont. He thinks, given the conditions, it could have even been lower.

J.J. Spaun set the pace Thursday with a bogey-free 66 at the challenging Oakmont Country Club course that mostly caused fits throughout a long, warm day in Western Pennsylvania.

Like many, Scheffler suffered through his share of frustration, failing to give himself enough looks at birdies and finding himself with work to do on Friday morning to get back into contention after shooting 73.

“When you play these really difficult golf courses, I think there’s always opportunity for low scoring,” said Scheffler, who finds himself seven shots back and in a tie for 50th. “That’s why I think when you look at the U.S. Open, especially you look at a tournament like they had at Shinnecock (in 2018), where guys are barely making a cut but also one good round and they’re back in the tournament.

“When you are playing these types of tests that are this challenging, there’s usually still a way to score. I’m surprised somebody maybe didn’t even shoot a little lower today, just because there’s opportunity. If you’re in the fairway, especially this afternoon, you’re not going to have 4-iron into every green. You’re going to be able to hit some shots and give yourself some looks.

“But it’s really hard to get the ball in play and it’s really hard to get the ball close. And anytime you’re out of position it just gets really challenging.”

Scheffler, who has won three of his last four starts on the PGA Tour including the PGA Championship last month, struggled with areas that are his strengths.

He ranked 44th in strokes-gained off the tee, 49th in tee to green and 77th in approach. Those are Scheffler hallmarks, and he simply wasn’t as solid as he’s been of late. He also took 30 putts and never got much momentum.

No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Scheffler made three birdies but had six bogeys. The latter two bogeys came at the 13th and 15th holes to push him to 3 over par, where he finished.

“There’s not a ton of strategy I would say,” Scheffler said. “You just step up on the tee box and go, what club can I get into this fairway, and then try and hit that club in the fairway, and if you don’t, it’s like, how am I going to get out of this rough and get the ball back in the fairway so I can have a shot at the green.

“It’s not like an overly strategic golf course where you know there’s a lot of club options off the tee and stuff like that. It’s just a golf course where you step on the tee box, look at that fairway and you’re like, all right, get the ball in that thing.”

Scheffler gets an early-morning tee time on Friday to attempt to make a move.

“It’s interesting because the green speeds I think as the day goes on actually slow up, so the greens I think will be faster in the morning, but they should be a little bit softer,” Scheffler said. “So maybe it’ll be a little bit more opportunity to attack some of these pin locations.

“The golf course also plays longer in the morning, so there’s challenges to it no matter what, and it’s up to us to go out there and—I think tomorrow, like when I look back at my round today, I think I just need to give myself some more looks at birdie.

“That’s really all it came down to. I’ll clean up some of those mistakes, a couple three-putts and stuff like that, and I think tomorrow will be a better day.”