Spring has not yet decided to reveal itself in the Northeast and players like Scottie Scheffler are feeling the lasting effects of Mother Winter on their golf game in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.
“It was just really, really tough,” Scheffler said after Round 2 of the PGA Championship. “It was blowing really hard, and it was quite cold as well. So, the golf ball wasn’t really traveling anywhere. It was just a really challenging morning overall.”
The world No. 1 shot 1-over 71 on Friday and lost his share of the top spot after a 3-under 67 in the opening round. By late afternoon, Scheffler had fallen to seventh on the leaderboard. He attributed the difficult round to not only the weather, but also the layout.
“You never know going into a tournament how things are going to be. You just get a feel for the golf course and how firm the greens are, and I was a bit surprised how far they pushed a lot of these pin locations,” Scheffler said.
Despite the conditions, he admitted he was trying to be patient with himself, knowing that if it’s hard for him that it’s also going to be hard for the other players. However, he wasn’t shy about expressing his annoyance with the level of difficulty of the round.
“Most of the pins today were, I mean, kind of absurd,” he added. “They were just so far into the areas where we thought the pins were going to be, and then they just — like the one on [No.] 14 was probably the hardest pin that I’ve seen in a long time just because, I mean, there’s literally just like a spine and they’re like, oh, we’ll just put the pin right on top of it. And you’re like, all right, well, I’ll see what I can do.”
The challenging pin locations are typically used to make a less demanding course, tougher, especially for a major championship. Seven players, including Scheffler, shared the lead after the first round, but Friday proved to be more of a separator.
While the scores across the board were notably higher than Thursday, some players like Chris Gotterup managed to shoot 5-under 65, seven strokes less than in his first round. Scheffler admitted the layout wasn’t unfair and it’s all about trying to solve the puzzle.
“I think that’s what is great about the harder tests. A lot of times you see somebody figure it out. Like you see that in a lot of U.S. Opens, you see that in a lot of these tournaments. So, when you see a score like that from a guy like Chris, he’s obviously a really talented player — and I think that’s a good thing. It’s got to be a heck of a round,” Scheffler said.
The 2025 PGA Championship winner recorded three bogeys in his first four holes Friday but steaded himself with three birdies and a bogey the remainder of the way. Afterward, he called golf “the hardest game in the world” and remarked that while he loves hard tests, he’s still trying to figure it out.
“We’re trying to make it harder, and there’s different ways you can do that. 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,” Scheffler said.
Scheffler then doubled down on the difficulty at the Aronimink, and the challenge being presented at the second major of the season.
“This is the hardest set of pin locations that I’ve seen since I’ve been on Tour, and that includes U.S. Opens, that includes Oakmont,” he added. “It’s difficult to get the ball close to the hole. It’s difficult to hole putts, especially when you have big slopes and wind, and I think that’s why you see the scores so close to par.”
Good news for Scottie, spring seems to be arriving just in time for the weekend, which could bring down the temperature on the course challenges and warm up the wintry wind.
