Scottie Scheffler career Slam chances blowing in Shinnecock winds
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Scottie Scheffler of the United States plays a shot from the bunker on the 13th hole during the second round of the 126th U.S. OPEN at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
Getty Images via AFP
SOUTHAMPTON – Scottie Scheffler’s chances of winning the US Open to complete a career Grand Slam might just come down to how the fickle winds of Shinnecock blow this weekend.
The world No. 1 fired a two-under 68 on June 19 to stand on even-par 140 after 36 holes, his day highlighted by a 40-foot birdie putt at the par-four 15th.
“I did a good job of keeping a pretty clean card. That’s always nice when you’re coming around a US Open golf course, especially one as challenging as this,” said Scheffler.
Gusting winds have caused most of the field to struggle, although fellow American Wyndham Clark leads four players by four strokes on seven-under 133, with Scheffler seven back and tied-11th.
England’s Matt Fitzpatrick (70), Americans Xander Schauffele (66) and Sam Stevens (69), and South Korean Tom Kim (67) are tied-second.
“The biggest challenge so far was just the wind,” Scheffler added. “Wind was up yesterday. Wind was up again today.
“Playing in the wind is extremely difficult and judging speed on putts when the wind is blowing that hard can be challenging.
“Looks like we’re going to have some more wind tomorrow. Wyndham was able to handle it really well the first couple of days, but the tournament is halfway done.
“I did a good job of hanging in there the last two days and hopefully (I’ll) start making a bit of a move over the next couple of days.”
Scheffler plans to watch early television coverage to see the wind and course conditions and how his rivals cope with both.
“This golf course can change pretty quickly, so we’ll see how the golf course presents itself,” he said.
The American, who is still on the hunt for a Major win this season, was pleased with his second-round effort.
“I did a lot of good stuff out there. Hit some nice shots. Hit a lot of good putts as well. They were just right around the edge,” the 29-year-old said.
How much water organisers spray on greens will dictate the speed of the putting surfaces.
“There’s a lot that goes into how they want to set up this golf course,” Scheffler said.
“There’s definitely some challenges to that with the amount of pitch they have on the greens.
“My job is to go out there and play it. My job is not to set it up. So doesn’t matter to me.” AFP
