Scheffler rebounds in 3rd round; Bradley says “screw it”
COVER PHOTO: World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler gives his caddy a smile during the second round. Picture by Mac Connor/Columbus Wired.
Scottie Scheffler and Keegan Bradley were having a tough time during the first two rounds of the 48th annual Memorial Tournament.
Both made it to the weekend by a nose hair after shooting three-over par, which was right at the cut line.
But after Saturday’s third round at the Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, it’s safe to say their fortunes are looking brighter.
Scheffler teed off in the second group of the round at 8:05 this morning and shot a four-under, 68 to put himself into a little better position for a Top-25 finish. His card contained five birdies and would’ve been bogey-free had he not pulled his par putt on No. 18. Even still, he said he was able to take advantage of some early morning conditions and felt his round was “decent”.
“Greens were a lot softer (and) less wind this morning. It was nice to be able to go out early and shoot a decent score. I would have liked to have shot a little bit better, but it was a decent round of golf. (The) last two days were pretty frustrating, so (I’m) proud of how I battled today.”
Part of that battle was getting through the grog of waking up early and dealing with aches and pains.
“I would say this morning was one of those mornings where it was tough getting up out of bed. It was the fourth week in a row I had to make the cut on the number. I had a crick in my neck and I just wasn't feeling good getting out of bed.”
The bogey on the last hole could have been a sand save had he not shanked his first two shots of the hole into bunkers. His tee shot found the right fairway sand trap and his second plunked down into the lower-left greenside trap. After pitching to within 11-and-a-half feet of the hole on his third shot, his par putt just missed to the left.
“I was having trouble taking the club back. I was using my hands the whole day. I saw a couple putts go in but not many. I still felt like I hit a lot of lips. But definitely, I feel comfortable over the ball and hopefully things will start improving.”
He is currently tied for 35th.
Bradley ended his Saturday with a seven-under, 65, which tied his best-ever Memorial round and as of this writing, is the low score of the day.
So what does the world’s 24th-ranked golfer who currently sits seventh in the FedEx Cup standings say to psych himself up? Screw it.
“I've been working on this feel the past couple weeks and I've sort of left it on the range and tried to play. Then today, I just said screw it and I went out there and I had this feel that I've been working on and I just hit a lot more quality iron shots.”
Bradley went bogey-free with five birdies on the front nine and started the back with two more on Nos. 10 and 11. At that point, his putter couldn’t be stopped and that feeling from the range was coursing through his veins.
“Last night I was thinking, (I) just wasn't hitting that great of iron shots and I just said, ‘all right, I'm going to take this feel to the course.’ Then when the putter gets hot like that and combine those up, that's when you can shoot a good one, like today.”
Unfortunately, his first bogey came on par-3, No. 12 but it wasn’t because of the putter. After sending his tee shot into the left rough, he duffed the pitch six feet so his par would’ve had to hole out from the rough. It wouldn’t go in but land four feet from the hole and he knocked in the bogey from there.
Two more birdies would come, though, on par-5, No. 15 and par-4, No. 17, however another boxed number appeared on his card when he bogeyed the last hole.
“It's just the tee shot is so difficult because you have to challenge that right side, but those bunkers are dead. All the bunkers are dead out here. Basically you have to chip out of most of them. You can't go up the left because it can kick into that water and if it kicks in the water, you have to drop in the rough. And then if you do hit the fairway, you have to hit a perfect iron shot, especially this flag on 18 is really tough. So the 5 a lot of times is a good score there. You don't want to make 5 as player, but I made 5 there today and I'm not that disappointed with it.”
As of now, Bradley is tied for 10th and his nine birdies is tops for the round. His 3.897 putting average also ranks No. 1.