Unsweet 16: World’s top 3 golfers make mess of 16th hole at PGA Championship, taking double bogey

Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele were supposed to be the marquis group to watch on Thursday at the PGA Championship.

It didn’t look like it in Round 1 — at least on the 16th hole at Quail Hollow.

The world’s top three players all made double bogey on the 535-yard, par-4 hole with Scheffler and Schauffele finding the water on their approach shots from the middle of the fairway while dealing with some mud on their golf balls, and McIlroy making a mess of the hole — literally — when he slipped in the wet conditions trying to hit from the deep rough from a sidehill lie.

All three walked off the green separately, dejected and eager to hit the reset button.

McIlroy seemed destined for trouble from the start after the Masters champion hooked his tee shot to the left and watched in disbelief as his ball rolled down a steep embankment, stopping in the deep rough a few yards from the water that runs along the left side of the fairway. That left McIlroy with an awkward stance on a muddy sidehill that had endured two days of heavy rains this week.

As McIlroy attempted to strike the ball, his back foot slipped and he was lucky just to make contact with the ball, which fluttered some 65 yards ahead and landed in some shorter rough. McIlroy couldn’t salvage par as his approach shot from 181 yards sailed right of the green. He chipped over a bunker and two-putted for a 6.

The wet grounds affected Scheffler and Schauffele, too.

Both smoked beautiful drives down the middle of the fairway and seemed poised to make birdie on the start on Quail Hollow’s difficult three closing holes on the back nine known as the Green Mile.

But playing with muddied balls, both sent their approach shots from about 200 yards into water on the left side of the green in nearly identical fashion, and were forced to take drops. Facing severe uphill lies, both players sent their loft wedges well past the hole, and needed two putts to finish out — with Scheffler making a 7-foot putt just to save double bogey.

It’s the first time since 2022 the PGA Championship has grouped together Nos. 1-2-3 in the world ranking for the start of the tournament.

It was part of an erratic start for Scheffler, who carded an eagle, birdie, par, bogey and double bogey on his first seven holes with the players starting their round on No. 10.

Prior to Thursday, Scheffler had never made a double bogey (or worse) in the first round of a major championship.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf