PALISADES PACIFIC, Calif. – Xander Schauffele’s putt was just two feet, seven inches.
Which made her absence even more painful.
Schauffele looked like he had a pretty good shot, but his first attempt at Riviera’s par-3 16th birdie right on the hole, caught the edge and rolled out the other side. The crowd groaned, a universal reaction to the sight of a lost draw, only made worse given Schauffele’s position in the race in one of the most prestigious events on the PGA Tour schedule.
It was not an isolated incident. On No. 17 just minutes later, Schauffele’s partner Rory McIlroy had a four-footer for birdie and missed it. And on No. 18, tournament leader Jacob Bridgeman holed his approach to six feet and missed thatalso.
Pros miss short shots all the time, of course. But if you look like professionals, lose them more often herethat’s because they do.
Ron Klos broke down some of the data here; over the past five years, pros are three-putting more regularly and making fewer putts from any distance at the Riviera. The tournament average from four to eight feet is 69.2 percent; here it drops to 65.6. From outside 25 feet Tour professionals three-putt at an average of 8.9 percent; in the Riviera growing over 11 percent.
For Riviera, this week’s results are extremely low. Bridgeman’s total of 19 in three rounds is unimaginable. But the same conditions that have given players so many attempts at birdies — soft, wet, fast greens that have allowed approach shots to hit and stick, even from the rough — have made it that much tougher.
In general, deployment challenges come from a combination of factors. Riviera, like Pebble Beach and Torrey Pines, has pure poa annua greens that tend to get rougher in the afternoon (a “waffle iron effect”) despite their pristine conditioning. This is another factor; The Riviera Greens are running QUICKwhich means it’s hard to break out of the equation and leads to players coming up on the defensive. And because of this week’s rain, imperfections are magnified, tip marks are easier to leave and surfaces become less predictable.
To summarize: These are very soft, ridiculously fast, unpredictable poa annua greens with an unusual amount of subtle two-way breaks. Lots of shots still coming in – these guys are good! – but not many.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what some of this week’s contenders had to say:
Schauffele, after his second round:
“Pebble was almost a good preparation for here being even wetter and faster (faster), that’s a lot scarier. But in terms of committing to gobbles that look dodgy, it was good preparation.”
Scottie Scheffler, on CBS, after his third round:
“The greens here have so much pace, and as the day goes on, the greens keep picking up and staying fast and keep getting more and more choppy just with the nature of the poa annua … the greens are getting softer and they’re fast, which I think is a really good challenge. It’s kind of understated how difficult this is.
“And especially when you add a little bit of breeze, it can be really challenging for hole shots. So I think you’ll see guys get a lot of looks, but you still have to manage your fairway.”
Rory McIlroy, after his third round:
“Yeah, the greens got really quick out there at the end of the day. Then you just couldn’t leave it dead. You’re grinding a tee and all of a sudden you get one that you think you can run a little bit and if you hit it a little bit too hard (driving) I just had the greens really, really hard today.”
More McIlroy:
“They’re tough because you don’t want to hit (the shots) too hard obviously, and then the softer you hit them, the more rest they’re going to have early.
“There’s a lot of double breakers here, so my putt on 16 today was a great example. I had to hit it really soft. It was left to right early, but the last half of the putt was right to left, but it went so far right early because I hit it so soft, I never got a chance to get back. It’s, yeah, it’s tough.”
Jacob Bridgeman, tournament leader (and head of statistical placement):
“In the past, I’ve really struggled with putts. For whatever reason, I didn’t like it, I didn’t really know what to do. I think I’ve accepted now that some of them are going to crash. Like mine on the last hole, I hit a good shot, it just crashed left and didn’t go in. I think in the past I would go through with that kind of fru and play this kind of fru.
“I had to make an adjustment in the middle of the round. At first I started well, I had a bunch of short putts and I didn’t have 15-footers where speed was important, and then in the middle of my round I hit too hard and I told my caddy, I need to hit them a little softer, because I don’t feel very good as a putt.
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