Scottie Scheffler: 'There were times today you feel like you could give up'

Scheffler was forced to look like a fella much further down the rankings as he struggled mightily with just about every aspect of his game in the early hours of Friday’s second round.

Scottie Scheffler reacts after missing a putt on the 15th hole. Pic: AP Photo/Seth Wenig

A six-lane highway cuts Oakmont in two but unlike a lot of the interstates that get choked up from early hours across America, the I-76 has a flow to it.

During the opening two days of this year’s US Open, the traffic jams have happened above the road where just a single bridge for spectators has been slow progress. 

Down below, the Pennsylvania Turnpike keeps on moving.

For the pros who are suffering through the worst of the fiendish course either side of it, the light hum of the highway offers a teasing thought: time for a quick exit? You’d be back in Pittsburgh in 20 minutes or headed south and away in a jiffy.

Scottie Scheffler admitted it had at least crossed his mind as the world No.1 was forced to look like a fella much further down the rankings as he struggled mightily with just about every aspect of his game in the early hours of Friday’s second round.

Scheffler opened with a birdie but was altogether out of character around the turn where he carded four bogeys in the space of seven holes pushing himself into rare territory where a +5 followed his surname on the leaderboard. 

He dug in though, finding two birdies to go with one more bogey on the way home, his 1-over 71 a portrait of perseverance.

“There was some times today where you feel like you could give up, just based on how difficult the golf course is and how my swing was feeling,” said Scheffler, sitting at 4-over overall, eight shots back as the afternoon wave set off. 

“I'd get in position there on 17 and make a mess of the hole, and feel like I was making birdie, walk off with bogey.

“I felt like that's what a lot of today was about. At the U.S. Open I don't think you're ever out of the tournament. I may be in 25th or 30th place or something like that after today. By no means is that out of it.” 

Two of the three closing questions to Scheffler focused not on him but on his closest friend on tour. 

Sam Burns signed for a stunning 5-under 65, the lowest round so far this week. It was a score that gained almost 10 strokes on the field and was statistically on track to be the best major round of the year.

The Louisiana native said he has tried to be too perfect in chasing a first major in the past. This week is all about patience.

"It's too hard to try to guide it around here,” said Burns, on 3-under overall. “You might as well do it with authority.” 

As Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry went out to battle to avoid a missed cut, they saw just six players under par with Burns and their Ryder Cup teammate Viktor Hovland, on 1-under after a 68, the only duo in the clubhouse in the red.

Australia’s Jason Day signed for a rock-solid 67 to move significantly up the leaderboard into the top 20. A fitful 74 which featured eight bogeys saw Brooks Koepka drop out of the top 10.