Scheffler: 'Definitely not out of the tournament' after another US Open round over par

OAKMONT, Pa. (AP) — Scottie Scheffler made yet another visit to Oakmont's famous Church Pews. He also bogeyed a hole after nearly driving the green.

That wasn't enough to knock the top-ranked player out of contention — in the eyes of the betting markets and Scheffler himself.

“Overall definitely not out of the tournament. Today was I think with the way I was hitting it, was easily a day I could have been going home and battled pretty hard to stay in there,” said Scheffler, whose day included an animated post-round session at the practice range with coach Randy Smith. “I’m 4 over. We’ll see what the lead is after today, but around this golf course I don’t think by any means I’m out of the tournament.”

Scheffler battled his way to a 1-over 71 at the U.S. Open on Friday, a slight improvement on his first-round 73 but still not the type of performance that's made him the game's dominant player the past three years. He has 36 more holes to try to unleash the form that produced wins in three of his last four tournaments.

But after play was suspended because of rain near the end of the second round Friday, only three players had shorter odds on the BetMGM Sportsbook money line, where Scheffler was at 8-1. He was tied for 23rd on the real leaderboard, seven strokes off the lead.

Scheffler began his second round with a birdie on No. 10. After a bogey on 15, his tee shot on the par-4 17th ended up just short of the green. But he needed four more strokes to complete that hole.

“I think it’s just giving it your best on each shot. There was some times today where you feel like you could give up, just based on how difficult the golf course is, how my swing was feeling,” Scheffler said. “I’d get in position there on 17 and make a mess of the hole, and feel like I was making birdie, walk off with bogey. Then I hit it in a bunker on the next hole, and it’s like I’m going to be struggling for par.”

He alternated bogeys and birdies on holes Nos. 1-4. After ending up in the Church Pew bunker on both the third and fourth holes Thursday, his tee shot went in there again on No. 3 a day later.

Still, it could have been much worse. Scheffler got up and down for par from the rough on No. 5 and from a bunker on No. 6.

“Mentally this was as tough as I’ve battled for the whole day,” he said. “There was a lot of stuff going on out there that was not going in my favor necessarily.”

At last year's U.S. Open at Pinehurst, Scheffler played all four rounds over par for the first time at a major championship. He's halfway to a repeat of that.

Or he could storm back into contention.

His patience was on display on No. 9, his final hole of the day. After his tee shot went into the rough, he used a wedge to hit out instead making an aggressive attempt at the green. He ultimately missed a 17-foot putt and took a bogey.

If he's going to make a significant climb up the leaderboard, that will have to wait.

“Going out early tomorrow, maybe get some easier conditions than the guys late in the afternoon. At the U.S. Open I don’t think you’re ever out of the tournament,” he said. “I may be in 25th or 30th place or something like that after today, and like I said, by no means is that out of the tournament.”

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Scottie Scheffler reacts to his tee shot on the 15th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Scottie Scheffler plays on the third hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Scottie Scheffler tees off on the 16th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Scottie Scheffler reacts to his tee shot on the 15th hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Scottie Scheffler plays out of the Church Pews bunker on the third hole during the second round of the U.S. Open golf tournament at Oakmont Country Club Friday, June 13, 2025, in Oakmont, Pa. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

BEIRUT (AP) — A U.S. envoy said Monday he was satisfied with the Lebanese government’s response to a proposal to disarm the militant Hezbollah group, adding that Washington is ready to help the small crisis-hit nation emerge from its long-running political and economic crisis.

The U.S. envoy to Lebanon, Tom Barrack, spoke to journalists after meeting President Joseph Aoun, saying he will study the government's seven-page response. Barrack said the American and Lebanese sides are committed “to get a resolution.”

“What the government gave us was something spectacular in a very short period of time and a very complicated manner,” Barrack said during his 20-minute news conference at the presidential palace southeast of Beirut.

His meetings in Lebanon came amid fears that Hezbollah’s refusal to immediately disarm would renew war between Israel after a shaky ceasefire agreement went into effect in November.

Last month, Barrack gave Lebanese officials a proposal that aims to disarm Hezbollah and move on with some economic reforms to try get Lebanon out of its nearly 6-year economic crisis, the worst in its modern history. The economic meltdown is rooted in decades of corruption and mismanagement by Lebanon’s political class.

Barrack said Lebanon should change in the same way as Syria has following the fall in December of Syrian President Bashar Assad,who was replaced by a new leadership that is moving ahead with major economic reforms.

Barrack said President Donald Trump and the U.S. are ready to help Lebanon change and “if you don’t want change, it's no problem." The rest of the region is moving at high speed," he said.

Hezbollah’s weapons have been one of the principal sticking points since Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon in 2000, ending an 18-year occupation. The two sides fought a destructive war in 2006 that ended in a draw.

The latest Israel-Hezbollah war began a day after the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel and intensified in September, leaving the Iran-backed group badly bruised and much of its political and military leadership dead.

Since a U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect in November, Hezbollah has almost ended all its military presence along the border with Israel, which is insisting that the group disarms all over Lebanon. Aoun said Sunday that the number of Lebanese troops along the border with Israel will increase to 10,000, adding that only Lebanese soldiers and U.N. peacekeepers will be armed on the Lebanese side of the border.

On Sunday night, hours before Barrack arrived in Beirut, Israel’s air force carried out strikes on southern and eastern Lebanon, wounding nine people, according to state media. The Israeli army said the airstrikes hit Hezbollah’s infrastructure, arms depots and missile launchers.

Earlier Sunday, Hezbollah leader Naim Kassem reiterated the militant group’s refusal to lay down its weapons before Israel withdraws from all of southern Lebanon and stops its airstrikes.

The Hezbollah-Israel war left over 4,000 people dead in Lebanon and caused destruction estimated at $11 billion. In Israel, 127 people, including 80 soldiers, were killed during the war.

Since the November ceasefire, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes on different parts of Lebanon, killing about 250 people and injuring over 600. Israel is also still holding five strategic posts inside Lebanon that it refused to withdraw from earlier this year.

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, left, meets with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Special Envoy to Syria Tom Barrack, meets with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, July 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)