Rara vez Scottie Scheffler gets into trouble during a round of golf. You can almost count on one hand the times he ends up in a fairway bunker from the tee in a tournament. It’s even more unlikely to see him hanging off the cliff that protects the right side of the 18th at Pebble Beach. Well, this Friday it happened at the AT&T Pro-Am.
The World Number One had to go down to the sand, quite literally, to hit his second shot on the last hole of his round. From the beach… and thankful that the ball remained playable. His drive went left and didn’t open up. It bounced on a small patch of beach and stayed there, reasonably well placed. From there, Scheffler got it back to the fairway, hit the third shot to the green, and saved par with two putts. The hole could have ended much worse. Once it bounces on that small margin of sand dotted with stones, the ball could have ended up anywhere, and a penalty drop would have been almost at the tee. He was lucky and took advantage of it. He avoided disaster.
Scottie takes an alternate route on No. 18 at Pebble Beach.
📺 Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/ix1kucpqkx— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 31, 2025
It wasn’t a good day of golf for Scottie, although he shot 70 and is still in the hunt for the tournament with a total of -7, seven shots behind the leader Sepp Straka (-14) and four from second place. That’s how bad days are for these types of players. He was seen struggling with his approach shots. Poor by his standards, obviously. From the tee, he was fine, but his irons weren’t the usual precision lasers. He even looked frustrated at times.
Taking advantage of his ‘absence’, Sepp Straka (-14) decided to dress up as Scottie. The Austrian displayed superb play, especially on the front nine at Pebble Beach. From 1 to 9, he left them on average for birdie at just over four metres. Incredible. By the time he reached the 10th, he was six metres ahead of the tournament average. It’s playing a different game. He made five birdies in that sequence and built a very solid round of 65, the best of the day along with Tom Kim and Billy Horschel at Pebble Beach.
Straka comes from winning the American Express two Sundays ago and is on fire. He claims to have greatly improved his putting this winter, adjusting his stance over the ball before executing the stroke. And Luke Donald with a big smile thinking about the Ryder Cup, even though there are nine months to go.
Straka has a three-shot lead over Cam Davis (-11) and Russell Henley (-11), while in fourth place are Tony Finau (-10), Andrew Novak (-10), Tom Kim (-10), Justin Rose (-10), and Austin Eckroat (-10). The leaderboard is very tight. Beyond Straka’s small lead, there are just five shots between second and 37th place.
The 18th hole, which almost dug a grave for Scheffler, was rejuvenating for Rory McIlroy (-8). The Northern Irishman put on a display of Roryland at Pebble Beach. He started like a rocket with four birdies in the opening holes and was eyeing the lead. Then, he spiralled with four almost consecutive bogeys, hitting bad shots, erasing all he had done before. Finally, very Rory, he finished with a spectacular eagle on the 18th. You have to count on him. Ludvig Aberg, who was playing with Rory, withdrew due to illness before the round.
Be very careful this Saturday with the moving day because many things can happen. The weather forecast is tricky. It’s the windiest day, with gusts that can reach 45 kilometres per hour, a gale at Pebble Beach. Additionally, intermittent, annoying rain is expected, and it’s cold. Conditions are going to be tough, to the point that we’ll see if the lead doesn’t drop below -14 after the third round.
