OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler made yet another visit to Oakmont’s famous Church Pews. He also bogeyed a hole after nearly driving the green.
That wasn’t enough to knock the top-ranked player out of contention — in the eyes of the betting markets and Scheffler himself.
“Overall definitely not out of the tournament. Today was I think with the way I was hitting it, was easily a day I could have been going home and battled pretty hard to stay in there,” said Scheffler, whose day included an animated post-round session at the practice range with coach Randy Smith. “I’m 4 over. We’ll see what the lead is after today, but around this golf course I don’t think by any means I’m out of the tournament.”
Scheffler battled his way to a 1-over 71 at the U.S. Open on Friday, a slight improvement on his first-round 73 but still not the type of performance that’s made him the game’s dominant player the past three years. He has 36 more holes to try to unleash the form that produced wins in three of his last four tournaments.
But after play was suspended because of rain near the end of the second round Friday, only three players had shorter odds on the BetMGM Sportsbook money line, where Scheffler was at 8-1. He was tied for 23rd on the real leaderboard, seven strokes off the lead.
Scheffler began his second round with a birdie on No. 10. After a bogey on 15, his tee shot on the par-4 17th ended up just short of the green. But he needed four more strokes to complete that hole.
“I think it’s just giving it your best on each shot. There was some times today where you feel like you could give up, just based on how difficult the golf course is, how my swing was feeling,” Scheffler said. “I’d get in position there on 17 and make a mess of the hole, and feel like I was making birdie, walk off with bogey. Then I hit it in a bunker on the next hole, and it’s like I’m going to be struggling for par.”
He alternated bogeys and birdies on holes Nos. 1-4. After ending up in the Church Pew bunker on both the third and fourth holes Thursday, his tee shot went in there again on No. 3 a day later.
Still, it could have been much worse. Scheffler got up and down for par from the rough on No. 5 and from a bunker on No. 6.
“Mentally this was as tough as I’ve battled for the whole day,” he said. “There was a lot of stuff going on out there that was not going in my favor necessarily.”
At last year’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst, Scheffler played all four rounds over par for the first time at a major championship. He’s halfway to a repeat of that.
Or he could storm back into contention.
His patience was on display on No. 9, his final hole of the day. After his tee shot went into the rough, he used a wedge to hit out instead making an aggressive attempt at the green. He ultimately missed a 17-foot putt and took a bogey.
If he’s going to make a significant climb up the leaderboard, that will have to wait.
“Going out early tomorrow, maybe get some easier conditions than the guys late in the afternoon. At the U.S. Open I don’t think you’re ever out of the tournament,” he said. “I may be in 25th or 30th place or something like that after today, and like I said, by no means is that out of the tournament.”
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