Xander Schauffele, a star of the PGA Tour, made waves at Quail Hollow Club during the Wells Fargo Championship’s opening round.
Xander Schauffele, a star player on the PGA Tour, made a lot of noise during the Wells Fargo Championship’s opening round after he was accused of taking an unusual tumble.
On the eighth hole of the day, which was also his 17th, the Quail Hollow Club moment arrived.
The American appeared certain to lose at least one stroke following a poor tee shot, even though his score was already an amazing six-under par.
Schauffele had a ridiculously good drive.
The pin was situated at the back right of the green, but he was so far to the right that he was unable to see it because he was in the trees.
When he finally found his golf ball, it was curled up against a fence.
Most saw it as an unplayable lie, and after probably having to chip out sideways, he was looking down the barrel of an instant bogey.
But he didn’t, and after speaking with a rules official about his options, he subsequently claimed to be “incredibly fortunate.”
Take a look at the drop here:
FULL EXCHANGE ON VIDEO
(I am not suicidal)@XSchauffele you are a fraud cheating coward…keep choking on Sundays pic.twitter.com/iFL1JIuVqF
— Adon7x (@adon7X) 🇺🇸 Schauffele was able to take advantage of a very lucky line of sight drop from the shot link tower that was in front of him on May 9, 2024.
He then hit his second shot to roughly 34 feet and made a two-putt for par.
With a few players still to finish their opening rounds, he took a two-shot lead at the time after closing with a birdie at the next. His scorecard read seven-under 64.
However, this was definitely a unique instance that infuriated a lot of X users.
“Xander Schauffele taking a drop here is an absolute abomination and a disgrace to golf,” one user commented.
“I’ll say it: In my opinion, Schauffele is an outright liar and a crook. There isn’t a decent golfer in the world who would take this lightly.”
“Schauffele should go to jail immediately,” said another.
One commenter stated: “Very funny! Schauffele’s request for the drop is embarrassing because he couldn’t even see the object he claimed was obstructing him, and the official appeared to have been coerced into making the request.”
And this user took the bait, saying, “The PGA Tour is an absolute shame. Five minutes after hitting a tee shot that went DEEP into the woods, Xander Schauffele is chipping onto the green from a clear view.
“No matter what the circumstances, the ‘rules officials’ always come through for the pros.”
In an interview with Golf Channel, Schauffele justified his actions, saying, “Wyndham [Clark] found it pretty close to the fence.
“It was almost completely dead when we arrived. I then began to touch the two rocks that were next to me and said, “That’s okay, I can move them,” to Austin (my caddie).
“Those were large pebbles. After we moved the rocks, it was practically hard to punch out backwards because the fence was so close to a ball; the only progress we could make was to punch it forwards to the green.
“After bringing the rules official inside, we turned left, which led me to the very edge of the pine straw. The tower was then in the luckiest location imaginable.
“It was an incredible pitch, followed by a two putt, in my opinion. I was extremely fortunate. For me, the icing on the cake was the birdie on the final hole.
