When a mere mortal like most of us tries a driver off the deck, it usually ends up in one of three ways: low, right (or left for southpaws) or both.
But as most of us have learned by now, Scottie Scheffler is no mere mortal when it comes to striking a golf ball.
The World No. 1 reminded everyone of that fact Saturday during the third round of the BMW Championship.
At Olympia Fields’ mammoth par-5 15th, playing 609 yards, into the wind Saturday, Scheffler uncorked a 290-yard tee shot with a 184 mph ball speed. We bring up the second number because it was the 27-year-old’s fastest ball speed of the week, according to ShotLink.
Despite that, he still was left with 321 yards for his second shot.
But with a clear path to run a ball up to the green, Scheffler pulled out the big dog and went for the green anyway.
He ripped the driver off the deck with a low cut that carried well short of the green but chased nearly all the way up onto the putting surface. His radar stats were 184 mph ball speed — equalling his best-of-the-week tee shot — and a 31-foot apex. It was shot tracer goals.
“It’s a risky shot, obviously,” Scheffler told CBS Sports’ Amanda Renner after his round of 64. “But it was one where if I miss the fairway, it wasn’t that big of a deal because if I hit 3-wood, I was going to have 90 yards into a back pin, into the wind with soft greens. And that green slopes back to front. So it was kind of worth the risk.
“I just hit it really hard and got some decent chase on it.”
His third shot from 79 feet away from the cup was the shortest approach shot of any player in the 50-man field Saturday. Rory McIlroy was the next closest at just over 100 feet.
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From there, Scheffler was able to make easy work of the hole, choosing to putt from off the green and getting down in two for the birdie.
Renner asked Scheffler if it was as fun to hit the shot as it was for the viewers to watch it.
“Yea it really was,” he said as the two laughed.
The birdie matched another by Matt Fitzpatrick a hole behind and kept the two locked in the lead at 11 under and kept Scheffler at No. 1 in projected FedEx Cup standings heading into the Tour Championship next week.