The difficult little par-3 fifteenth at Memorial Park measured solely 121 yards on Saturday, but it surely exacted a vengeance on quite a few gamers on the Texas Youngsters’s Houston Open.
Considered one of them occurred to be Scottie Scheffler, the number-one ranked participant on the earth.
Scheffler hit a beautiful-looking wedge, and unsurprisingly, it was heading straight for the flagstick. However his tee shot took one bounce, spun again, and trickled all the way in which down into the creek that trickles in entrance of the inexperienced about six toes beneath the placing floor.
Consequently, Scheffler’s mouth dropped in disbelief. He couldn’t settle for that his ball ended up the place it did.
“I didn’t count on it to spin again, I didn’t count on it to spin again off the inexperienced, and I didn’t count on it to be within the water,” Scheffler mentioned.
“Particularly the way in which the gang was, they bought actually excited, so I assume it bought fairly near the outlet.”
As a substitute of taking a look at birdie, Scheffler walked away with a double-bogey.
“It’s a horrendous break actually. There’s actually simply nothing else. I hit an excellent shot, and the ball goes into the water. It’s not nice, but it surely occurs. It’s a part of the sport,” Scheffler added.
“So I might actually type of stroll up there understanding that I hit a superb shot and I simply did my greatest to get it up and down. I failed to take action, the pin was sitting in a bizarre spot there. Hit a superb putt that didn’t go in, however general I can’t get too upset, I hit a extremely good shot. I all the time speak about my course of, and that’s a shot there the place I did precisely what I needed to do, and I simply bought unfortunate. So long as my course of is nice, then I’m in a great place.”
A 3-shot swing late within the day on Saturday would possible rattle some other participant.
However not Scheffler. He’s too good and too mentally powerful, and he doesn’t let his uncommon errors have an effect on him.
As such, on the subsequent gap—the par-5 sixteenth—Scheffler hit an ideal 4-iron into the peninsula inexperienced and confronted a 20-footer for an eagle. He barely missed however tapped in for birdie.
“I’m pleased with how I bounced again there,” Scheffler mentioned.
“I hit a extremely nice shot into 16. That’s one which may be understated on the scorecard or on the protection. That was a extremely arduous shot that I had.”
He was not completed.
At 17, a 398-yard par-4 with water all down the right-hand facet, Scheffler discovered the green after which painted the flagstick along with his strategy. His second shot landed solely 4 toes from the pin, and within the blink of an eye fixed, he wiped away his double bogey with one other birdie.
Scheffler, who has gained his final two occasions throughout his earlier two begins, will enter the ultimate spherical tied atop the leaderboard.
Scheffler, David Skinns, Stephan Jaeger, Alejandro Totsi, and Thomas Detry are all 9-under by way of 54 holes. However Scheffler—as a result of he completed his spherical sooner than the others—will be part of Skinns and Jaeger within the ultimate pairing.
“Profitable the final two doesn’t assist me do something [on Sunday],” Scheffler mentioned.
“We’re nonetheless tied for the lead… however yeah, follow my course of. I believe it’s going to be one other fairly difficult day on the market with excessive winds. Stick with my course of and management what I can management on the market.”
Jack Milko is a golf employees author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By. Be sure you try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as nicely.
