World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler pulled off an incredible beach escape at Pebble Beach on Friday, saving par from the sand in a dramatic finish to his second round at the AT&T Pro-Am.
The 28-year-old found himself in a tricky spot on the iconic 18th hole when his tee shot veered left toward the Pacific Ocean.
Instead of finding water, his ball landed on the beach.
“I pulled it pretty bad off the tee,” Scheffler admitted afterward. “I didn’t see it hit any rocks, didn’t see it splashing.”
What followed was a bit of golf drama that had viewers glued to their screens. After a lengthy chat with a rules official about whether he could hit a provisional ball (he couldn’t), Scheffler made his way down to the beach.
There, in a scene more fitting for a vacation photo than a pro golf tournament, he found his ball resting on the sand near the water’s edge.
He managed to move a few rocks, get a clean hit back to the fairway, and somehow walked away with a par. Pretty impressive for a shot that could’ve easily ended up in the Pacific.
The beach adventure capped off a solid round of 70, leaving him seven shots off the lead heading into the weekend.
It’s not a bad showing for Scheffler’s first tournament back after hand surgery to remove glass fragments.
“I haven’t felt at peak performance at all,” he said about his return to competition. “I think that’s just a little bit of competitive rust, kind of getting my feet back under me.”
Despite not being at his best, Scheffler has managed to keep things together, with only two bogeys through two rounds.
“To only have two bogeys, one of them being with a semi shank, it’s pretty good,” he said. “Other than that, I did a good job keeping my focus, keeping the golf course in front of me.”
His steady play, even with a detour to the beach, shows why he’s still ranked No. 1 in the world.
