NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler had just made three bogeys on the first four holes of his second round at the PGA Championship when he stood on the tee at the par-3 14th hole at Aronimink and looked at a yellow flag that boggled his mind.
The pin was tucked all the way back and to the right of the 215-yard hole, behind a bunker. A cold wind was in his face and the hole was atop a ridge at the highest point of the green.
Three bogeys in
four holes caused enough stress. And now this.
“That was one of the craziest pins that I've seen,” Scheffler said.
His tee shot found the middle of the green, well below the ridge, just under 80 feet away. He lagged that to 3 feet for a par. Given his start, it was as important a par as he made all day. “Extremely good,” Scheffler said.
He was unequivocal in his assessment of how he rated the difficulty of the pins: “This is the hardest set of pin locations that I’ve seen since I’ve been on tour, and that includes U.S. Opens.”
The PGA Championship hasn't seen leading scores this high at the midway point since Kiawah Island in 2012. Players were three-putting roughly 6% of the holes on Friday.
The wind is difficult, sure. A relatively dry week makes it firm and fast and harder to control shots. But it's the greens, undulating with knobs and valleys, and the locations of the pins that have been a real monster.
“There were some pins that didn't even look like they were on the green,” Chris Gotterup said after his 65, the low round of the championship.
The 11th hole was a popular reference. The green already had everyone's attention at the start of the week because of the severe false front that sent golf balls some 40 yards down the fairway.
On Friday, the hole was on a small shelf front and to the right. Players hit a nothing more than a wedge. If anyone was closer than 8 feet — usually a stock shot with a wedge for the world's best — consider it a happy accident.
“Impossible to get close,” Gotterup said.
Justin Thomas tried to lay back off the tee for a full sand wedge from 124 yards. That didn't work out for him. He tried to be so exacting, but it came up short and in a bunker. The next one didn't get on the green. He had to scramble for bogey.
“It's not hard to hit it to 20 feet past the hole, but it’s really, really hard to hit it close,” Thomas said.
“So it just kind of speaks volumes to how this course can be throughout the entire day.”
It's been that way for two days. It doesn't take much for the PGA of America to set tough pins that will affect the scoring. Not all of them are brutal. The opening two holes Thursday were accessible. The pin on the par-5 ninth was on the easier side.
The par-3 eighth hole was tucked behind a bunker, but the tee was moved up 72 yards to play at only 173 yards on Friday. Gotterup hit a 5-wood on Thursday and made bogey. He 7-iron to 4 feet on Friday for birdie.
Scheffler had 140 yards on the second hole to a back right pin. He hit it to 30 feet and was pleased. He had the same yardage two holes later to a more accessible pin and went after it, the shot settling 5 feet below the hole for birdie.
It's about picking the right shot for the right pin. And it changes by the day.
“I love hard tests of golf, but it’s also the hardest game in the world and we’re trying to make it harder, and there’s different ways you can do that,” Scheffler said. “You can do that on a golf course like this. I mean, I truly believe they could have the winning score be whatever they want it to be. It could be over par if they want it to be, just based purely upon pin locations.”
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