Scottie Scheffler showed a rare outburst of frustration during his second round of the U.S. Open, after the world No. 1 was seen throwing his putter after missing an attempt on the 16th at Pinehurst No. 2.
Scheffler has prevailed as golf's dominant figure in recent months, winning three of his last five events including April's Masters. The two occasions he failed to come away with the title saw him finish in a tie for second at the Charles Schwab Challenge, having finished tied-eighth a week before at the PGA Championship despite being arrested prior to round two.
The American star has failed to have it all his own way at Pinehurst this week though, having carded a one-over-par 71 in Thursday's opening round to leave himself six shots behind opening day leaders Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy.
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It was by no means a poor performance from Scheffler, having battled in testing conditions at Pinehurst No. 2 on day one. On Friday there is no doubt he was keen to get his tournament going and chase down the leaders, but there proved to be more frustration in round two.
Having started on the 10th and made five-straight pars, Scheffler's first blemish of the day came at the par-three 15th after making a bogey-four. A hole later he was no doubt keen to bounce back, and gave himself a great chance to do so after leaving a putt for birdie.
The attempt from just inside 30-feet however failed to drop, just burning the edge of the cup. An uncharacteristically flustered Scheffler saw his temper boil over, as the world No. 1 tossed his putter away in frustration to the shock of many watching on in North Carolina.
Scottie Scheffler let out his frustration (Golf Channel)What is more, the Masters champion also left himself a tricky putt back to the hole to save par, but Scheffler recomposed to ensure he tidied up for a four. Scheffler's incredible form over the past year has seen him draw comparisons to the great Tiger Woods, having seemingly begun his own period of dominance.
Leading into the third major of the year having won just last week at the Memorial, a number of his biggest PGA Tour rivals had spoke highly of the world No. 1. Scheffler himself welcomed the support of his fellow player. "I think it's nice to hear a little bit of good things from my peers," he said Wednesday.
"I think we all try to bust each other up at times when we're out there playing and competing. I think that's part of the friendship bond, is you want to mess with your buddies, so to hear some compliments every now and then is definitely nice. I always look back on being selected for my first Ryder Cup team, of kind of having the vote of some of the guys.
"I wasn't really a proven player out here yet. I hadn't won on Tour. I got the vote of some of my peers to be on that team and was able to perform well. So that's something that I always look back on and am very grateful for.
'I'm very grateful those guys wanted me on that team and I felt like it was a big moment in my career. So I'm very thankful to have a lot of the friendships that I have out here and it's a joy to be out here playing with these guys and competing with them. It's a lot of fun."
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