CHARLOTTE, NC. The aspect that always makes me shake my head in bewilderment is when tour players expect 100% fairness in a sport in which that outcome is never going to be a hard and fast reality.
When you play any sport outdoors the vagaries of weather will always be front and center. Those who spend their valuable time trying to rationalize or bemoan difficult situations can be consumed by them.
You would thing players who have been golfing for quite some time would thoroughly understand that.
The greater Charlotte area has been experiencing periodic downpours with different thunderstorms passing through the region. Trust me – weather happens. All the time in pro golf. That’s not a new headline. Only when players seek to whine about what they experienced does it become an item of emphasis which the assembled media will quite rightly pursue for additional clarification / comment.
There are only four major championships per year and each of those events is notable because of the lifetime legacy it provides to the winner. A truism in golf is you play the ball as it lies and the course as you find it.
Once players are able to “pick and clean” the nature of the game and the outcome it produces changes.
How did this issue rise to the level it did after round one?
Well, the best player in the world fumed a bit concerning how shotmaking is altered when mud adheres to the ball. Yeah, that’s true. Guess what? Deal with it.
Scheffler is an accomplished player – when you open the door to such discussion expect the media to follow.
Here’s what he said Thursday after the round word for word —
“I think when you’re looking at the purest forms of golf, like if you’re going to go play links golf, there’s absolutely no reason on a links golf course you should play the ball up. It doesn’t matter how much rain they get. The course could be flooded under water and the ball is still going bounce somehow because of the way the turf is and the ground underneath the turf.
“In American golf it’s significantly different. When you have overseeded fairways that are not sand capped, there’s going to be a lot of mud on the ball, and that’s just part of it. When you think about the purest test of golf, I don’t personally think that hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway you should get punished for.
“On a golf course as good of conditioned as this one is, this is probably a situation in which it would be the least likely difference in playing it up because most of the lies you get out here are all really good. So, I understand how a golf purist would be, oh, play it as it lies. But I don’t think they understand what it’s like literally working your entire life to learn how to hit a golf ball and control it and hit shots and control distance, and all of a sudden due to a rules decision that is completely taken away from us by chance.
“In golf, there’s enough luck throughout a 72-hole tournament that I don’t think the story should be whether or not the ball is played up or down. When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion maybe the ball today should have been played up.
“But like I said, I don’t make the rules. I deal with what the rules decisions are. I could have let that bother me today when you got a mud ball and it cost me a couple shots. It cost me possibly two shots on one hole, and if I let that bother me, it could cost me five shots the rest of the round. But today I was proud of how I stayed in there, didn’t let it get to me and was able to play some solid golf on a day in which I was a bit all over the place and still post a score.”
When preferred lies happen on the PGA Tour it’s a far different situation because the weekly nature of tour events mandates that they proceed in a time frame that can get events concluded given the cramped schedule.
However, major championships are far different matters. Players make adjustments all the time and having to deal with mud on one’s golf ball is part of the process. The more time you spend debating that reality the less focus you have on doing what’s needed to succeed.
Scheffler likely wanted to vent – all players do at some point. The media will pursue storylines that are brought forward by any player. That’s just part of what the role of media is.
Quail Hollow is in superb condition for the 107th PGA Championship. Yes, the fairways are softer than what the tournament officials would like to see but that’s part of the daily routine with golf. You deal with the cards you’re dealt.
Players realize focus is the central word on achieving success in the biggest of moments. Scheffler does and you can be sure he will plan not to open up the same can of worms for the balance of the championship.
Golf is not a fair game. Sometimes the breaks don’t even out. Sometimes players get bad lies in fairways such as being in a divot. On the flipside, there are times when players get good lies in the rough.
Constant adjustment is the hallmark of great players. They see things clearly and deal with them. No need to verbalize what’s clearly obvious. The PGA Championship is smartly handled by Kerry Haigh and his talented team.
Mud on a golf ball happens.
My advice? Be a stud — not a dud.
Move on and deal with it.
Now back to the championship and the real storylines that matter.
