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    Scottie Watch

    U.S. Open 2025: The battle to stay in the hunt was real for Scottie Scheffler

    June 13, 2025
    2219985367

    Scottie Scheffler reacts after finishing the second round.

    Patrick Smith

    OAKMONT, Pa. — Scottie Scheffler used some form of the word "battle" four times in the first three answers of his post-round presser at Oakmont Country Club Friday, following the 71 that left him at four over. That’s a number that qualifies for a few different descriptions, including "not dead" and "safely inside the cut line," but also "a bit far from the leaders." His word choice reflected his perception of the round as a long, hot slog, in which the main drama was whether he'd give into the demons ... either Oakmont's or his own.

    As an illustration, Scheffler offered his final hole of the day, No. 9, in which he sprayed his drive into the right rough. He grabbed 7-wood out of his bag, dreaming of an attempt at the green, but the amount of grass behind the ball gave him pause. A par on 9 would make Scheffler even on the day, and after all the work he'd put in to have a chance at that score, the temptation was strong. In the end, though, one of the many qualities that separates Scheffler from his peers—wisdom—won out.

    "The more we stood there I was, like, 'We probably shouldn't to do this, something bad could happen,'" he said. "So, I did a good job of kind of staying patient, hitting a wedge out, and giving myself a look for par."

    That's all it was—a look, from about 16 feet. Scheffler missed and made bogey, and he knew that was the likely outcome the minute he went for the less risky path. His willingness to accept that fact characterized his day and likely kept him from succumbing to the mental errors that compound the difficulty of this beastly course.

    "I think that would maybe be an area where you could try to force something, and being three over par for the tournament and the lead is a few under par, that could be an area where you may try to force something," he said. "But I think forcing it around this place is probably not a good recipe to play too much good golf for me. You've got to be hitting fairways, you've got to be hitting greens, and hopefully I'll be able to do that on the weekend."

    Scheffler’s ball striking was abysmal on Friday by his very high standards—he clocked in at 116th in strokes gained/off the tee and 70th in approach. But his putting was among the 10 best on the course. That kept him within shouting distance of the leaders, but since he only hit six of 14 fairways and seven of 18 greens, the terrific putting was more damage control than weapon.

    Scheffler had no explanation for those struggles, and when asked if he might have anticipated it based on his range session, he responded with a matter-of-fact "No, I anticipated to hit it better." He chalked up some of his bogeys to bad luck, and on a course like Oakmont, it's easy to believe him, because the coin flip of how a ball settles in the rough dictates so much about how the hole plays out. That misfortune, plus the length of the round, created a scenario in which it would have been easy to succumb to frustration and commit unforced errors.

    How did he resist?

    "I think it's just giving it your best on each shot," he said. "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. ... 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. To start off the round, I make a good putt on 10, barely pull it on 11 … there's a lot of places that ball could end up. Thought it could end in the fairway, and it ends up in a place where I don't have a swing."

    "So it's, like, am I going mad about it, get frustrated? Or am I just going to chip it out and see what I can do from there? I felt like that's what a lot of today was about."

    In short, Scheffler didn't exhibit very much of the technical prowess that makes him the best golfer in the world, but he exhibited plenty of the mental acumen. To have a chance to win his second straight major, the technical part will have to kick into gear—after the round, he went right to the range to work out the kinks—but his brain fought off the Oakmont demons on a brutal day and kept him in the hunt.

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