Scottie Scheffler was on the 36th and final hole of the 2016 U.S. Open sectional qualifier in Powell, Ohio, when his approach shot landed in a bunker near the green. He had two shots to spare — one to use a sand wedge to lift the ball out of the bunker onto the green and then one to convert the ensuing putt — to force a playoff and keep his U.S. Open hopes alive.
Scheffler did just that, creating a six-man playoff the next morning when only five would advance. That night his sister, Callie, joked that she would be willing to risk her internship with WorldLink and caddie for him if he qualified for the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club.
The next morning she received a text from Scottie: “Can you get a week off from work?”
Nine days later, Scottie Scheffler, 19, an amateur from Dallas, is the clubhouse leader of the U.S. Open after finishing with a first-round score of 69 (1 under).
“I felt pretty good about it,” he said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. I played pretty solid.”
Only nine players completed the round due to three weather delays. When the course was cleared for the final time, only seven golfers had scores under par, led by Andrew Landry’s 3 under through 17 holes.
Scheffler, a junior at the University of Texas, finished with the lowest opening round score for an amateur in a U.S. Open at Oakmont and became only the third amateur to shoot a round in the 60s in any round of the U.S. Open at the fabled course.
Scheffler’s round started with a birdie on the 10th hole, and he followed that by making par on seven consecutive holes, including a 20-foot, par-saving putt on the 15th hole. He bogeyed back-to-back holes, Nos. 18 and No. 1, but he finished his afternoon under par with birdies on No. 4 and No. 7.
Scheffler’s parents, Scott and Diane, walked the course, following their children as Scottie’s golf bag weighed on Callie’s back and an ever-growing target formed on Scottie’s. They watched their son go up-and-down for birdie out of a greenside bunker on the 615-yard, par-5 fourth hole and later as he sank a 7-foot putt for birdie on the seventh.
“I think the best shot was on 7,” Scott Scheffler said. “The iron he hit onto the green … he hit it to the fairway, but he hit it about 6 feet [from the hole] and he made the putt.”
“My lag putting was really good on the greens,” Scottie Scheffler added. “I made some good 7-, 8-footers that kind of helped me keep the round going toward the end, which was really helpful.”
The overnight rain Wednesday, plus the additional downpours Thursday, forced the players to adjust their approach to Oakmont. The golfers spent the first half of the week playing short of the pins, Scheffler said, but the wetter, softer course conditions forced them to worry about the spin on their approach shots.
“I get on hole 11 today, second hole of the day, and I spin one back like 50 feet off the front of the green,” he said. “I thought I hit a pretty good shot, and all of a sudden, I’m left with a really hard two-putt.”
For every adjustment Scheffler made, his sister was by his side. Callie Scheffler is a senior at Texas A&M, where she’s pursuing a graduate degree in marketing and suits up for the Aggies women’s golf team. She has caddied for Scottie in previous professional events so she’s accustomed to her brother’s game and the clubs in his bag.
“She knows the drill,” Scheffler said. “She knows how to caddie out here.”
On the second rain delay, the Scheffler duo joined their parents for lunch, along with Scottie’s college golf coach and his golf instructor, soaking in the moment.
“We just sat around a table and kind of hung out,” Callie Scheffler said. “We were with family.”
The youngest Scheffler sisters, Sarah and Molly, would have been there, too, but they are leaving for a mission trip Saturday to the Dominican Republic.
“I can’t even describe it right now, but I didn’t really let the magnitude of what’s going on kind of get to me,” Scottie Scheffler said. “This is something I’ve never experienced before.”
The U.S. Open is unlike any amateur tournament Scheffler has experienced or even the NCAA championship final, when his Longhorns finished second to Oregon just weeks ago.
“We’ve got courtesy cards and security and a bunch of people around,” Scheffler said. “It’s just something I’m not used to, like how we’re going to get to the course tomorrow is going to be a struggle because we’ve got to dodge thousands of fans. That’s something I’ve got to figure out when I’m done here.”
Callie Scheffler described her brother as a great competitor. Despite his age and PGA Tour inexperience, he’s there to compete with everyone else.
“I don’t think it’s quite hit him,” she said.
With the 18 holes, Scheffler will reap the rewards of beating the rain and almost the entire field Thursday.
“Some rest would be good tonight,” he said. “And honestly, I really wanted to watch the basketball game tonight. I wanted to get done so I could stay up late to watch that.”
Andy Wittry: awittry@post-gazette.com.
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