The news of the passing of Grayson Murray has overshadowed the Charles Schwab Challenge, even though the third round was played at the express wish of the player’s parents: “it’s what he would have wanted,” they had told Jay Monahan, the head of the PGA Tour. It was necessary to move forward, even though the pain and significance of such an event reduces almost everything important or noteworthy that could happen on the 18 holes of the Colonial Country Club to nothing.
For example, that 63-stroke card from Scottie Scheffler (-10) that has taken the Texan to second place, four strokes behind the leader, Davis Riley (-14), with whom he will share the star match on Sunday. One recalls the image of Scheffler signing that triple bogey on hole 13 on Thursday and certainly can’t believe that he managed to make it in time to get into the star match of the decisive round.
In short, the world number one’s performance has been superlative, even on the greens, where he struggles to be the best, or even one of the best (today he was, especially in that final sprint, where he chained three birdies sinking putts from more than four meters away, one after another). And credit must also be given to the resilience of the leader, who after all delivered the second-best result of the day (66 strokes), thanks to a crazy first eight holes, with a five-under-par in this stretch, before repeatedly missing the left exits… Unfortunately today all this, starting with Scheffler’s golf monument, was the least of it. It must be recorded, but it was the least of it.
Some, like Webb Simpson, heard the news before going out to play. Others found out once they had handed in their card, as was the case with Scheffler, who was already ready to speak to the media to revel in his fantastic round of golf, when he was informed of his colleague’s death, at which point he apologised and avoided making statements. He finally did, although not in front of the cameras, and he certainly didn’t revel in it, as could not be otherwise. He acknowledged, by the way, that he had gotten to know Grayson Murray “a little better in the last six months”, and that all his thoughts and prayers were with the player’s family at this time.
And tomorrow, more. They will go out and compete. But this week it’s incredibly hard to find any significance in anything in this extraordinary circus of professional golf.
