Scottie Scheffler makes a disastrous double-bogey on the 18th to fall four shots behind Tony Finau heading into the weekend at the Houston Open.
Scheffler, 27, is bidding to become the first player to win three straight events on the PGA Tour since Dustin Johnson in 2017 at this week’s Texas Children’s Houston Open.
While that is still very much on the cards at Memorial Park this week, Scheffler made things much tougher than they needed to be heading into the weekend as he three-putted from seven feet for a double-bogey six on the par-4 18th in the second round.
SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER BLAMES SPIKE MARK FOR MISSING 23-INCH PUTT ON 18 IN HOUSTON
It was his first double in 218 holes.
Scheffler left his first putt high and it lipped out to 23 inches.
The red-hot World No.1 did not mark his ball and line it up properly, however, and it cost him dear as he went on to lip the second putt out on the right side.
WATCH WHAT HAPPENED HERE.
Scheffler revealed after the round that a ‘spike mark’ was the reason for the short missed putt.
He said:
“No, yeah, frustrating lapse in judgment there. You never really know what’s going to be up there around the cup on 18. Yeah, just hit something and knocked the second one offline. Felt like I hit a good putt on the first one, maybe went just barely through the break so obviously it was a bit frustrating hitting a good putt and it not going in. Second one I guess just hit a little fast and didn’t see a spike mark there.”
It all added up to a round of level-par 70 to leave Scheffler four strokes behind defending champion Tony Finau, who tied the course record with a stunning 62 on a testing day at Memorial Park.
Scheffler recently switched into a mallet putter and it appeared to be making a big difference to his game following successful title defences at both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and The Players Championship.
He ranks 46th in SG: Putting so far this week (0.612).
Finau played exceptionally well on his final stretch, scoring 6-under par from holes 3 to 8, with a notable eagle on the 8th.
The Houston Open did not take place in 2023, however, Finau emerged victorious in the tournament in 2022, making him the defending champion for this week.
“Finau is currently leading by two strokes ahead of Alejandro Tosti from Argentina, with Thomas Detry from Belgium trailing by one shot at 6-under par.”