Mud balls! Schauffele and Scheffler have rounds muddied by double bogeys at PGA Championship

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The PGA Championship put the top three players in the world together for the first time in three years on Thursday and the conversation turned to mud.

Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele each had clumps of mud on their golf balls from the middle of the 16th fairway — the hardest hole at Quail Hollow — and saw their shots curve hard to the left, over the green and into the water, leading to double bogeys.

It was like that for most of the day, the product on a course that has been soaked by heavy showers in the three days leading up to the second major of the year, and more rain from late last week.

The PGA of America put out a notice on the eve of the first round saying that the ball would be played as it lies because the turf was “outstanding and drying by the hour.”

“We are looking forward to an exciting opening round,” the statement said.

Maybe just not this variety.

“It's frustrating to hit the ball in the middle of the fairway and get mud on it and have no idea where it’s going to go,” said Scheffler, the No. 1 player in golf the last two years. "I understand it’s part of the game, but there’s nothing more frustrating for a player. You spend your whole life trying to learn how to control a golf ball, and due to a rules decision all of a sudden you have absolutely no control over where that golf ball goes.

“But I don't make the rules,” he said. “I just have to deal with the consequences.”

He managed a 2-under 69, helped by twice holing shots from off the green — a chip-in from deep rough behind the 12th green (after another mud ball from the fairway), and putting in from just off the green at the par-5 15th for eagle.

And then came the double bogey — by each player in the marquee group — on the 16th.

“I did a good job of battling back today and not letting a bad break like that — which cost me a couple shots — get to me,” Scheffler said. “Did a good job battling after that and posting a decent score.”

Schauffele, the No. 3 player in the world and defending PGA champion, opened with a 1-over 72 and was leaning back in a leather chair in the locker room when he looked up and saw television replaying his shot on the 16th.

He was aiming beyond the bunker right of the green and figures he probably should have been aiming toward where the gallery was watching.

“A lot of guys are dealing with it, but it's just unfortunate to be hitting good shots and to pay them off that way. It's kind of stupid,” he said.

McIlroy shot 74 and the Masters champion declined to speak to the media. He might not have been a good authority on mud balls because McIlroy was rarely in the fairway, hitting only four of them for the round.

He also made double bogey on the 16th because of a different kind of conditions. McIlroy hit so far left that he was beyond the fairway down a grassy hill, the golf ball well above his shoes. As he tried to swing, his left foot spun out and he was lucky to make contact, advancing it some 30 yards, still in the rough.

Nos. 1, 2 and 3 in the world all made a 6.

“I kept the honor with making a double on a hole, and I think that will probably be the first and last time I do that in my career unless we get some crazy weather conditions,” Scheffler said.

That made him laugh. Little else did, particularly the decision to play the ball down. The U.S. Open never allows players to lift, clean and place the golf balls in the short grass. The PGA Championship did once during a rain-soaked weak at Baltusrol in 2016.

Scheffler and Schauffele argued that Quail Hollow is pristine enough that cleaning mud off golf balls would not allow for a better lie than if it were dry.

He said American courses — different from links golf for the British Open — are overseeded and lush and are bound to pick up mud, particularly when the sun returns after heavy rain.

“I understand how a golf purist would be, ‘Oh, play it as it lies.’ But I don’t think they understand what it’s like literally working your entire life to learn how to hit a golf ball and control it and hit shots and control distance, and all of a sudden due to a rules decision that is completely taken away from us by chance,” Scheffler said.

“In golf, there’s enough luck throughout a 72-hole tournament that I don’t think the story should be whether or not the ball is played up or down," he said. “When I look at golf tournaments, I want the purest, fairest test of golf, and in my opinion maybe the ball today should have been played up.”

Schauffele disliked the idea of hitting the fairway and having a 50-50 chance at a good shot from there because of mud splotches. Toward the end of his round, he was happy to have mud on the top of his golf ball instead of the sides. Then it was only a matter of how it would affect distance instead of direction.

And there was one other aspect to these mud balls. Schauffele glanced again at the television and saw Ryan Gerard at 7 under through 16 holes, before he bogeyed the last two for a 66.

“Yes, it was frustrating, but everyone had it,” Schauffele said. “There's a guy shooting 7 under right now. So clearly I'm just being a huge baby.”

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

Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, reacts after missing a putt on the 16th hole during the first round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Xander Schauffele chips to the green on the 16th hole during the first round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Xander Schauffele watches his tee shot on the 16th hole during a practice round for the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Wednesday, May 14, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Scottie Scheffler reacts after the 16th hole during the first round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Quail Hollow Club, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

ALEPPO, Syria (AP) — First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.

The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.

The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.

The U.S.-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Islamic State group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria's national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.

The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”

The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.

Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.

The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.

On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.

Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.

“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”

Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.

Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.

“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.

Associated Press journalist Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut contributed to this report.

Sandbag barriers used as fighting positions by Kurdish fighters, left inside a destroyed mosque in the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

People flee the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

A Syrian military police convoy enters the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

Burned vehicles and ammunitions left at one of the Kurdish fighters positions at the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood, where clashes between government forces and Kurdish fighters have been taking place in the northern city of Aleppo, Syria, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)