Scottie Scheffler Blasts PGA Championship Conditions, Ruling, After Brutal Shot

Scottie Scheffler absolutely went off on how rules officials handled the first round of the PGA Championship on Thursday.

Scheffler was, understandably, frustrated with the decision ahead of the round not to allow players to take preferred lies. Rain pounded the Charlotte area, and by extension, Quail Hollow Club, throughout the early part of the week, making for unpredictable conditions in most fairways.

Sure enough, Scheffler, and his playing partner Xander Schauffele, both fell victim to the rain-soaked grass. On the extremely difficult 16th hole, Scheffler drove the ball right down the middle, and was rewarded with the dreaded mud ball. 

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The second shot took off so far left it took one bounce and went directly into the water next to the 16th green. It led to a double bogey, taking him from two under to even par. Even after seeing Scheffler's shot, Schauffele did almost the exact same thing. When asked about it after the round, Scheffler was clearly very annoyed that players hadn't been able to use preferred lies in those conditions.

CHARLOTTE: Scottie Scheffler tees off at the second hole during the first round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at Quail Hollow on May 15, 2025. Photo: Aaron Doster-Imagn Images

Scottie Scheffler Goes Off On PGA Championship Ruling

Scheffler gave a lengthy, detailed answer as to his feelings on being forced to play a mud ball.

"By the way, this is going to be the last answer that I give on playing up or down," he said. "I think when you’re looking at the purest forms of golf, like if you’re going to go play links golf, there’s absolutely no reason why links courses you should play the ball up. It doesn’t matter how much rain you get. I’ve played in ground under the turf.

"In American golf it’s significantly different. When you have overseeded fairways that are not sand capped, there’s going to be a lot of mud on the ball, and that’s just part of it. When you think the purest test of golf, I don’t personally think that hitting the ball in the middle of the fairway you should get punished for.

"On a course in as good of condition as this one is, this is probably a situation in which it would likely make sense in playing it up because most of the lies you get out here are really good. So I don’t know how they got to that decision with the ball down, but I think it’s a lot more difficult to control distance, and all of a sudden due to the ball it 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 I don’t make the rules. I deal with what the rules are. I could have let that bother me today when I had 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, I’m not playing golf. I’m playing golf in a day in which I was a bit over the place and still posted a score, and I was proud of how I stayed in there, didn’t let that bother me."

Scheffler recovered to finish his round at two under, putting him in a tie for 20th place, five shots behind first-round PGA Championship leader Jhonattan Vegas. But that mud ball cost him, at minimum, two shots. It'd be pretty hard not to be upset when the worst lie of the round comes from the middle of the fairway.