The easy joke here is calling it a “triple double,” and no, we aren’t above using that very bad pun.
But what happened to three of the best players in the world — all in the same group and on the same hole! — during the first round of the PGA Championship on Thursday at Quail Hollow Club in certainly noteworthy.
Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele — the top-three players in the Official World Golf Ranking — played together in a supergroup during Thursday’s first round, beginning their day at 8:22 a.m. ET on the 10th hole.
Things were mostly fine through six holes. Scheffler was two under; McIlroy one under and Schauffele even. But the 535-yard par-4 16th hole was a not-so-welcome wake-up call.
All three players made a double-bogey 6. Ouch.
The problem with the 16th isn’t necessarily the length — although it’s certainly no driver-wedge par-4 — but it’s a dogleg right with water left and behind the green. Thursday’s pin was also tucked in the back-left corner, daring players to challenge the trouble and try to stick it close.
McIlroy went left off the tee. His ball tracked toward the water but got caught up in the rough on the slope. From an awkward lie he was only able to advance it about 20 yards. He missed the green right from there, hit a good pitch to 12 feet — it’s a tough pin to be aggressive with — but missed that and made double.
Scheffler and Schauffle both found the fairway off the tee, but both overcooked their approach shots left into the water. They dropped in the penalty area left of the green and, due to their lie and slope of the putting surface, couldn’t muster anything close to the pin. Scheffler, who had a worse lie of the two, two-putted from 52 feet (he drained a 7-footer to save double), and Schauffele two-putted from 34 feet.
Afterwards, Schauffele and Scheffler said mud on their balls affected their approach shots.
“It’s one of those deals where it’s frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it’s going to go,” Scheffler said. “I understand it’s part of the game, but there’s nothing more frustrating for a player. You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball, and due to a rules decision all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes. But I don’t make the rules. I just have to deal with the consequences of those rules.”
The par-4 16th was lengthened before the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship — the annual Quail Hollow stop on the PGA Tour — and it’s the first of three holes that make up the famous Green Mile, Quail Hollow’s most difficult stretch of holes that includes the 16th, 17th and 18th.
After Thursday, three of the game’s best won’t argue that.
Scheffler birdied two of his last three to shoot a two-under 69. Schauffele shot 72, and McIlroy shot 74.
You can follow the opening round here.
