Scottish Open conditions lead to … a 226-yard pitching wedge?
DP World Tour
Two boys, carrying matching purple caps and blue jackets, could have summed up the proceedings finest, and in simply 9 phrases. They had been posted up to the fitting of a path on the Renaissance Club when Justin Thomas handed by, with the quick interplay captured by the DP World Tour’s social media team.
“Welcome to Scotland, Justin.”
“It’s a wee bit nippy.”
To which Thomas confirmed: “Just a little bit.”
Indeed. Just a wee bit. Just a little bit.
They had been forecasting as a lot on the Scottish Open, the place final-round tee occasions had been pushed up some 5 hours so as to keep away from the worst of what was supposed to be a breezy Sunday alongside the Firth of Forth. The worst. The followers had been nonetheless turned on, and the golf balls reacted in sort.
Consider:
— There was the opening drive of U.S Open winner Wyndham Clark, which traveled 384 yards.
— There was the drive of eventual winner Rory McIlroy on the seventh gap, which traveled 427 yards, his longest poke of the season by 40 yards.
— There was the hat of Viktor Hovland, which traveled backward at one level after flying off his head.
And then there was this.
On his first gap of the day, the 580-yard, par-5 tenth, Min Woo Lee pumped his tee shot 351 yards. That was good. But this was higher. He acquired house in two.
With a 226-yard shot.
Hit with a pitching wedge.
A. Pitching. Wedge.
Said an announcer on the Sky Sports broadcast forward of the shot: “Let’s see how close he can get this to the green. 225, that was a pitching wed …”
He had paused.
Said the announcer when the shot landed: “This is ridiculous. Look at this. That is absolutely insane.”
Said a second announcer: “That’s unbelievable.”
On the shot, Lee’s ball landed about 30 yards in need of the inexperienced, bounced, bounced once more and rolled to about 15 toes. From there, he two-putted for a birdie 4, and he completed with an even-par 70 and in a tie for thirty fifth.
“That was a pitching wedge, off an upslope, 225,” the primary announcer mentioned.
“Oh dear. I have no words,” the second announcer mentioned.