Scottie Scheffler (-3) has met the best of expectations on the second day of the Charles Schwab Challenge, after the surprising stumble on Thursday (he signed a round of 72 strokes, two more on the day) that placed him in a somewhat delicate position. An immaculate card, without bogeys, of 65 strokes, five less on the day, returns the world Number One to his comfort zone, to his ecosystem, to his home… To the hot zone of the table, in other words, and three strokes from the lead occupied by Sungjae Im (-6) and Keegan Bradley (-6) at the time of editing this chronicle and with the evening shift of play just started at the Colonial Country Club. It should not be ruled out then that at the end of the day his disadvantage with the head is somewhat greater, because there are guys like Tony Finau or Brian Harman who go out to play in the afternoon eager to fight after their 66 on the first day.
It is true that the playing conditions were not as complicated as yesterday, because the wind was not blowing so much, but the Texan, in addition, has been much more orderly. Still, he has not yet reached the superlative level of other performances. For example, he was forced to hole out from off the green on hole 9, the last of his round, to save par, after a small mess, when he was even glancing at a double bogey… But of course, these are the things that these types of players do to maintain a positive dynamic, or, as was the case, to finish a great round of golf in the last gasp.
Scheffler, to understand us, has been today of high grade, but he has not been the best player on the field, nor the one who has won the most strokes from the tee or approaching the green, as so many and so many times… And yet he has managed to sign a card of five less without too much trouble or fuss, also leaving several signature moments, resplendent, fabulous, like that series of four consecutive birdies (holes 18, 1, 2 and 3) in which the longest putt he was forced to hole to make the birdie did not even reach a meter in distance. He is back in the fight after the unheard-of disconnection of the first day that took him down the street of bitterness for seven lousy holes. Guys, I’m back and you’ll see me in the last matches on Sunday.
Jorge Campillo (+5) has fought with everything he had to come back and get into the weekend, but his driver today was not up to the task. He has gotten into too many problems from the tee, over and over again, and from that treacherous Bermuda rough it is not easy to handle to go saving all the tricky situations. He has no choice but to grit his teeth and fine-tune the heavy artillery for next week in Canada.
