Oakmont (United States) (AFP) – Top-ranked Scottie Scheffler struggled to a three-over-par 73 in Thursday’s first round of the US Open, hungry to solve sloppy bogeys and silly mistakes at Oakmont. Scheffler, whose three wins in his past four starts included last month’s PGA Championship, is trying to become the first back-to-back major winner since Jordan Spieth in 2015.
But after his worst first round at a major compared to par, and seven strokes adrift of leader and US compatriot J.J. Spaun, he has a lot of work to do. “I made some silly mistakes out there,” Scheffler said. “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 and I think tomorrow will be a better day.”
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Scheffler struggled with six bogeys against three birdies, a six-foot birdie putt at the second followed by three bogeys in the next four holes. “I felt like I did a pretty good job after the start, had kind of a sloppy bogey on three, sloppy bogey on four, and then another bogey on six and all of a sudden I’m a few over par,” Scheffler said. “On this golf course, when you get over par early, it can feel like a daunting task. I did a good job of battling, and if I’m a little sharper tomorrow, I think I can score a bit better.”
Scheffler paid the price for getting even a little out of position. “It’s just really hard to get the ball in play and it’s really hard to get the ball close,” he said. “Anytime you’re out of position the golf course just gets really challenging. It’s not overly complicated. It’s just difficult.”
A birdie at 11 was followed by bogeys at 13 and 15 to doom any hope of a late charge. “I would have liked to have finished a little better. I felt like I was battling back pretty well,” Scheffler said. “The greens just got challenging out there late in the day. 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.”
Scheffler will be set for a morning start on Friday. “I felt like I did a pretty good job of executing,” he said. “I’ve just got to be a little bit sharper tomorrow. I’ve probably got to give myself a few more looks.” He hopes to go a bit faster also. “That round took a while,” he said. “That was over five and a half (hours). That’s a long time to be out there.”
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