The tricky little par 3 at Memorial Park measured just 121 yards Saturday, but it got revenge for many players at the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
One of them happened to be world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler hit a nice looking wedge and, unsurprisingly, it went straight into the flagpole.But his The tee shot took one bounce.spun back and fell all the way into a trickling creek in front of the green about 6 feet below the putting surface.
As a result, Scheffler remained silent in disbelief. He couldn’t accept that his ball ended up in that spot.
“I didn’t expect it to spin back, I didn’t expect it to spin back off the green, I didn’t expect it to go into the water,” Scheffler said.
“I think we were pretty close to the hole, especially because the crowd was so excited.”
Instead of going for birdie, Scheffler left with double bogey.
“It’s just a really bad day off. There’s really nothing else. I hit a great shot and the ball went into the water. It’s not great, but it happens. That’s the game too. ,” Scheffler added.
“So I was able to walk up there confident that I had hit a good shot and just tried my best to get it up and down. I missed and the pin ended up stuck in a weird place. I hit a good putt that didn’t go in, but overall I wasn’t too upset and hit a really good shot. I always talk about my process, but it was exactly what I wanted to do. It was a shot that did what it did, and it was just bad luck. If my process is good, I’m in a good position.”
If he takes three swings late on a Saturday afternoon, there’s a good chance the other players will tremble.
But Schaeffler is different. He’s too good and mentally tough to let the rare mistakes affect him.
So on the next hole, the par-5 16th, Scheffler hit a perfect 4-iron into the peninsula green and faced a 20-foot eagle. He missed just a little, but got the birdie.
“I’m proud of how we bounced back there,” Scheffler said.
“I hit 16 really great shots, which may be undervalued on the scorecards and in the press. That was a really difficult shot for me.”
He wasn’t finished yet.
At No. 17, a 398-yard par 4 with water running down the right-hand side, Scheffler found the fairway and drew a flagstick on his approach. His second shot fell just four feet from the pin, and he quickly erased the double bogey with another birdie.
Scheffler, who has won the last two events in his last two starts, will enter the final round tied for the top of the leaderboard.
Scheffler, David Skins, Stefan Jaeger, Alejandro Tozzi and Thomas Detrie are all 9 under after 54 holes. However, Scheffler finished his round earlier than the others and will join Skins and Jaeger in the final draw.
“Winning the last two games doesn’t help anything.” [on Sunday]” Scheffler said.
“We’re still tied for first…but yeah, stick to my process. I think it’s going to be another pretty tough day today with high winds. Stick to my process and do what I can control. Please control it.”
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
