PORTRUSH, Northern Eire – Scotty Schaeffler barely frolicked between the Royal Portrush fairways on Thursday, hitting solely three of the 14 of the course within the opening spherical of the Open Championship.
However the lack of fairways on Portrush’s Dunluce hyperlink may very well be a catastrophe recipe, however the world’s No. 1 participant confirmed why he’s proof against even his personal poor play regardless of his unstable play from the tee, preventing a formidable 3-under 68 spherical.
“When it is raining subsequent to you, it could truly be unbelievable, however getting the ball on the green is not that straightforward,” Schaeffler quips. “I felt like I had flipped the ball over from the tee, and I actually solely had one swing that I wasn’t too proud of, perhaps within the second gap.
Schaeffler could have preached positivity after his spherical, however as soon as he was executed with the media, he headed out into vary to deal with the driving force swing.
The three main winners supported his subdriving along with his standard elite method recreation (whose +3.27 strokes) and a placing efficiency that was much better than what he confirmed on the Scotland Open final week. There he misplaced 1.45 strokes on putts whereas nonetheless ending within the high 10. On Thursday, he described the inexperienced as “easy” at Portrush, and Schaeffler scored 2.26 strokes on the inexperienced.
“Placing is a kind of offers the place you’ll be able to hit loads of good putts that are not in, particularly when you could have slightly exercise on the inexperienced,” Schaeffler stated. “I attempt my finest to be good each week, however I have never puttted in for just a few weeks so I did a superb job preventing final week.”
However Schaeffler, who frolicked on Tuesday this week, spoke about how he discovered the fleeting nature of profitable to be pointless, however he made it clear that he was stressed with a top-10 end and was making an attempt to do all the things to win the match.
“I believe I’ve made that fairly clear in my profession,” Schaeffler stated. “I believe generally I must be slightly extra trustworthy. Perhaps I should not say what I stated (Tuesday).
He could have left on 11 lacking fairways on Thursday, however the remainder of the week will seemingly want extra – not simply from Schaeffler’s driving, however from his total recreation and mentality. His group performed about half the rounds on Thursday in regular winds and rain.
Rain, particularly, is changing into tougher than issues will be seen, Schaeffler stated.
“The wind clearly challenges Hyperlink to golf, however the rain provides an entire new factor to it, particularly if you hit a tee ball,” Schaeffler stated. “It offers you a little bit of moisture between the membership’s face and the ball, particularly within the lengthy membership and the woods. It is fairly difficult.”
However as he confirmed Thursday, Schaeffler is rising as a result of problem.
