‘Kind of stupid:’ 2 stars question PGA Championship playing conditions

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele just want a fair playing field.

On Thursday, during the first round of the 2025 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow Club, the World No. 1 and No. 3 contended that wasn’t the case because of the PGA of America’s decision to not play preferred lies after three days of torrential rain.

Scheffler and Schauffele went out early Thursday alongside Rory McIlroy and were immediately dealt a poor hand by the golf gods.

On the par-4 16th hole, their 7th of the day, Scheffler and Schauffele hit their drives to within feet of each other in the center of the fairway. But neither would benefit from their striped tee balls.

Scheffler stepped up and hooked his ball left of the green and into the pond. Schauffele followed suit a few minutes later. Both wound up making double bogey, as did McIlroy.

After the round, Scheffler, who carded a two-under 69, said mud on his ball had caused his errant second at the 16th, and that the decision to play the ball down Thursday wasn’t one that he necessarily agreed with.

In an expansive explanation, Scheffler said balls should always be played down on links-style courses because sand beneath the turf absorbs rain so effectively. But that is not the case with American courses because they have overseeded fairways that are not sand-capped, which promotes mud balls like the one that Scheffler said caused his errant second shot at No. 16.

“I understand how a golf purist would be, oh, play it as it lies,” Scheffler said. “But I don’t think they understand what it’s like literally working your entire life to learn how to hit a golf ball and control it and hit shots and control distance, and all of a sudden, due to a rules decision that is completely taken away from us by chance. In golf, there’s enough luck throughout a 72-hole tournament that I don’t think the story should be whether or not the ball is played up or down. When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion, maybe the ball today should have been played up.

“But like I said, I don’t make the rules. I deal with what the rules decisions are. I could have let that bother me today when you got a mud ball and it cost me a couple shots. It cost me possibly two shots on one hole, and if I let that bother me, it could cost me five shots the rest of the round. But today I was proud of how I stayed in there, didn’t let it get to me, and was able to play some solid golf on a day in which I was a bit all over the place and still post a score.”

Schauffele was a little less diplomatic in his critique of the mud balls plaguing Quail Hollow on Thursday.

“Had a ridiculous mud ball there on 16 with Scottie,” said Schauffele, who shot one over. “We were in the middle of the fairway, and I don’t know, we had to aim right of the grandstands probably. I’m not sure. I aimed right of the bunker and it whipped in the water and Scottie whipped it in the water, as well. It is what it is, and a lot of guys are dealing with it, but it’s just unfortunate to be hitting good shots and to pay them off that way. It’s kind of stupid.

“I’m not the only guy. I’m just in front of the camera. I wouldn’t want to go in the locker room because I’m sure a lot of guys aren’t super happy with sort of the conditions there. I feel like the grass is so good, there is no real advantage to cleaning your ball in the fairway. The course is completely tipped out. It sucks that you’re kind of 50/50 once you hit the fairway.”

The defending PGA champion said he got lucky several times when the mud ended up on the top of the ball. But if you ask him, the problem will be exacerbated as the week unfolds.

“The mud balls are going to get worse,” Schauffele said. “They’re going to get worse as the plays dries up. They’re going to get in that perfect cake zone to where it’s kind of muddy underneath and then picking up mud on the way through. I mean, you just keep — I don’t know, maybe hit it a little bit lower off the tee, but then unfortunately, the problem with hitting it low off the tee is the ball doesn’t carry or roll anywhere, so then you sacrifice distance. It’s a bit of a crapshoot.”

Scheffler closed with birdies on two of his final three holes to finish within three shots of Ryan Gerard, who posted five under as the afternoon wave was teeing off. Schauffele, meanwhile, made nine straight pars after his mud-ball-induced double bogey before making a birdie on No. 8.

Two of the world’s best players want the fairest test possible at major championships. But it should be noted they played the same course as Gerard, Luke Donald (four under), Ryan Fox (four under) and the rest of the field.

Jon Rahm, who shot one under, said he expected the PGA of America to play lift, clean and place, but he didn’t have a problem with mud balls in the first round.

“It was pretty apparent early on that [the course] was in good condition,” Rahm said.

Rahm said he was lucky not to have to deal with mud balls, especially on some of Quail Hollow’s elevated tee shots.

Scheffler and Schauffele? Not so much.