Xander Schauffele turns the impossible lie into the ugly square 8 at Zozo

Number 2 in the world of Xander Schauffele opening day at Zozo Championshipfor the most part, it was a normal, drama-free round of golf. As Schauffele said afterward, “Like 85 percent of the day was not very stressful.” Unfortunately, that other 15% turned a solid result into an ugly one.

And it all revolved around one of the worst lies you’ll ever see on a golf course.

After starting his day with eight straight pars, Schauffele missed his shot on the long par-4 9th hole in a grove of trees to the left of the fairway. Immediately, he had to worry about the trees blocking his path to the green on his approach. But when he reached his ball, he found a worse situation than he could have imagined.

His ball wasn’t just blocked by a tree, but it was wedged between two roots at the base of a tree, with the ball barely visible above the pine straw and dirt.

To most golfers, it seemed that Schauffele’s lie was impossible and there was no choice but to follow Rule 19 and free yourself from an immovable lie along with a free kick. But Schauffele saw things differently, and it ended up costing him dearly.

Schauffele drew a wedge and positioned himself at his ball, directly in front of the tree, to try to break it and avoid the penalty kick. He took his first swing and his wedge crashed into the tree trunk. His ball? He could barely move. Unhappy, Schauffele reloaded and immediately tried again, and this time he appeared to miss the ball entirely, taking a divot near his ball.

As he decided for a third attempt, his caddy Austin Kaiser he had finally had enough and stopped it.

“I mean, the damage is already done, but you can’t keep hitting it there,” Kaiser told his player, causing Schauffele to burst out laughing.

He then told his playing partners to go ahead and play because he was finally going to get an unplayable game.

Instead of doubling down on his decision, Schauffele admitted his big mistake while speaking to reporters after his round.

“No. 9 alone, it was an incredible place. I almost wanted to take a picture of it, that’s how bad it was. For me to think I could do anything definitely put me in a hole there,” Schauffele explained, “I should have just gotten a real estate, but I was an idiot and tried to hit it. Then I was stubborn and then tried to hit it again, finally got a real one. I would hit it a third time just because, but yeah, it was a bad place.”

But he also revealed that he would use the incident as a learning experience for the future.

“I mean, I definitely think having false confidence helps sometimes and at those points it really doesn’t,” Schuaffele said. “So I’m definitely going to try to evaluate it a little better next time and really think about whether I can pull it off or not.”

After his shot and taking the penalty, Schauffele hit the fifth just over a hundred yards up, but the decider in the fairway.

His sixth shot found the green, and after a two-putt par, Schauffele scribbled an 8-four for the hole, affectionately known to hackers everywhere as a snowman.

Fortunately for Schauffele, he has three full rounds to play to recover from his big mistake. But he has a lot of work to do. He now trails first-round leader Taylor Moore by 10 strokes.

Kevin Cunningham

Editor of Golf.com

As managing producer for GOLF.com, Cunningham edits, writes and publishes stories on GOLF.com and manages the brand’s e-newsletters, which reach more than 1.4 million subscribers each month. A two-time former intern, he also helps make GOLF.com sound outside of the stories and service content provided by our reporters and writers, and works with the technology team on developing new products and innovative ways to deliver engaging engagement. site for our audience.