Pinehurst No.2 saw one of the most heartbreaking moments in all of golf when Rory McIlroy could not close out the U.S. Open. In all fairness, it is a very difficult course. This is particularly why Bryson DeChambeau's win is all the more impressive. Even Scottie Scheffler had some issues with the course. That kept him from continuing his dominant run after having just notched the Memorial Open days before.
Usually, anyone who catches fire in a previous tournament carries that momentum over. Scheffler was more than expected to perform well. Unfortunately, it was not the case for the top-ranked golfer in the world. The pressure of the U.S. Open may have gotten to him.
Moreover, Pinehurst No. 2 even presented some unique challenges.
It is not often that Scheffler gets bothered by the course he is playing on. But, the wiregrass at Pinehurst was just hard to maneuver. He unveiled why that was such a big issue for him during the U.S. Open, via Paul Hodowanic of the PGA Tour.
“When I'm not playing my best, I feel like one of my skills is managing my way around the golf course, knowing where the misses are. When you have pretty much a coin flip of whether or not you're going to have a swing, there's not really a side of the fairway that you get to miss it on. There are not really areas where you can play through. You just have to hit great golf shots… Last week, I was just not able to do that with the nature of the grass,” Scheffler said.
Scottie Scheffler's qualm with the wiregrass at the U.S. Open
He went on to point out the specifics of his swing mechanics which were bothered during the U.S. Open. But, he still appreciated the challenges at Pinehurst which players like McIlroy and DeChambeau overcame as the weekend went by.
“You could hit it a foot off the fairway and be in a bush, and you could hit it 20 yards off the fairway and have a perfect lie. It plays like you’re in the fairway. That part of the course I didn’t love, but fairway to greens, I thought it was fantastic,” Scheffler added.
“I thought it was a great test of golf. It challenged us in all the right ways. You had to hit great shots in order to hold the greens. Around the greens, you always had some sort of shot because you’re playing out of the short grass. So I think sometimes when the rough is really heavy you see guys playing the same shot over and over again.”
It was clear that the wiregrass, something not often seen on most PGA Tour courses, bogged down his performance. Scheffler finished 70th in strokes gained. His Friday round at the U.S. Open even saw him play 18 without a birdie which nearly pushed him below the cut line for the first time in two years.
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