OAKMONT, PA (93.7 The Fan) – It’s what you have not seen Scottie Scheffler do much recently that he did Thursday at the US Open that leaves him seven shots back of the lead after the first round.
“I made some silly mistakes out there,” Scheffler said.
The world number one was praised just two weeks ago by Jack Nicklaus for fighting through mental lapses to focus on every shot. He didn’t at the first round of the third major of the season at Oakmont Country Club.
Scheffler shot a three-over 73 with six bogeys. He had four bogeys and a double total in his four rounds winning the Memorial Tournament his last time out. For a guy that hits the ball as well as anyone, the world number one was 68th in fairways hit and 78th in putting Thursday.
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“The greens just got challenging out there late in the day,” Scheffler said, teeing off at 1:25 on Thursday. “There's so much speed and so much pitch and then with the amount of guys going through on these greens, they can get a little bit bumpy. But you know that's going to be part of the challenge going in. You've got to do your best to stay under the hole and stay patient. I felt like I did a pretty good job of executing today. I've just got to be a little bit sharper tomorrow.”
The forecast on Friday is likely dry all day, but especially in the morning. You would think there would be an advantage for those like Scheffler who will tee off in the morning on Friday.
He goes at 7:40.
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“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-points and stuff like that, and I think tomorrow will be a better day.”
It’ll need to be. For the unanimous favorite, Scheffler is only one back of the cut line. The last time he missed a cut was the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship.
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