After hitting a rare double during the second round of the Memorial Tournament, Scottie Scheffler opened up about his frustrations and blamed a “terrible lie” on hole 10
Scottie Scheffler was left frustrated after hitting a rare double-bogey in the second round of the Memorial Tournament, and admitted that the course at Muirfield Village was “challenging” on Friday.
Scheffler, 28, is keeping up with the leaders at the Memorial Tournament hosted by golfing legend Jack Nicklaus, who slammed on-course interviews in a rare outburst this week. However, after Friday’s second round, Scheffler was eager to get some things off his chest when speaking to the media.
The World No. 1 is coming off the back of a major win at the PGA Championship, and is known for being one of the most consistent golfers of his generation. Therefore, it was a shock when Scheffler made a rare error on the 10th as he shot two-over-par, and he opened up about the experience.
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“Just a terrible lie,” Scheffler said, as his tee shot caused him major issues. “If there was more rough in front of me, I would have maybe tried to hit, like, an 8-iron or something, hack it down the fairway, but it felt like it was worth the risk to try and pop it out of there with the 5-wood.
“The worst that was going to happen was the ball was going to end up where it did,” Scheffler admitted. The World No. 1 was then asked about the overall conditions at Muirfield Village, and added: “Yeah, I mean, the golf course is playing really long. It’s a very challenging golf course.
“When the rough gets this wet, any time you hit it in the rough, the lies are going to be really bad and it’s going to be really challenging. So it’s definitely important to keep the ball in play and try and stay dry.”
Despite the double-bogey, Scheffler still hit 70 in his second round to finish two-under for the day, and place pressure on tournament leader Ben Griffin. Scheffler has only hit 90 doubles in 130 events, and made the cut in 122 of them.
Griffin currently has a three-stroke lead over Scheffler, and a one-shot advantage over Nick Taylor. It’s been a breakout year for Griffin, who has picked up his first two wins on the PGA Tour this season, but he’s keen to remove the underdog tag.
In an interview with Mirror U.S. Sports, Griffin was asked if he always believed that he would become a major contender on the tour, and said: “Yes, I always considered myself a very good golfer, but until you go out there and earn it and beat the best, it’s hard to consider yourself one.
“There’s always belief, but it’s very validating for me now to see some of the hard work and some of the things I’ve been doing to try to make myself an elite golfer pay off. There are a lot of things behind the scenes that I’ve been doing to try to separate myself from being the 55th best player in the world, which is where I’ve been in the top 100 the last couple of years.
“There are little steps you have to make to get better and better, and I feel like I’m doing a lot of the right things from a rest and recovery standpoint, from a health standpoint, from a training standpoint. I’m doing the things that I need to do to be a Rory McIlroy, to be a Scottie Scheffler.
“Now that I’m looking at myself and my recent results and looking where I’m at in the rankings, I believe I’m a top-five player right now. Would I say Scottie and Rory are better golfers than me? Yes, but I’m making strides.
“I think I’m a top-five golfer right now. I have just got to continue to go down this stretch that I’m on and continue to win, continue to put myself in positions, and there’s no doubt in my mind that I can continue to get higher and higher in the world as I continue to improve.”