Sand proving to be a trap at PGA Championship

TULSA, Okla. – Life was no beach in the opening round of the PGA Championship with inconsistent bunker sand getting plenty of airtime from those chasing the Wanamaker trophy at Southern Hills.

The sand traps at Southern Hills are filled with fine pebbles, as well as sand of course, producing somewhat of a lottery for the players. When pebbles get between the clubface and ball the ability to add significant spin to the shot is compromised.

This is a departure from regular weeks on the PGA TOUR where the bunkers are in fact a place of refuge for some given how immaculate the sandy areas are. Rather than acting as a target on recovery shots, they are to be avoided this week.

Justin Thomas called it the most challenging sand he’s ever dealt with in golf while Tiger Woods lost control of his round thanks to the inconsistencies. The volume of sand across each hazard was also unpredictable.

All in all, 151 of the 156 players faced at least one sand save throughout the opening round with only 52 of those proving successful more than half the time.

“It's definitely the most challenging sand I've ever played in just because, first off, it's not very consistent. Like on 8 today, I told Bones it was wild… my left foot when I was kind of digging in, it was a little bare I could feel, and then my right foot was pretty good, like normal, and under my ball was like hitting off (a hard surface),” Thomas said after a grinding 3-under 67 left him two shots off the lead.

“Some of them have no sand; some of them are good sand… but then when you do it's very pebbly, and sometimes you can kind of get them between the face and the ball and just see them shoot up and offline. It's really difficult to get spin; basically impossible,” he added after going 2 from 4 from the bunkers.

For Woods, it was a rough day where he went from 2 under early in his round to a 4-over 74 with six trips to the sand. The 82-time PGA TOUR winner was able to save par just twice as he found it extra difficult to get his injured leg in a stable place.

“All the bunker shots sort of came out hot. The sand is a lot faster than I thought it would be. Kind of been that way all week, especially if you get up in the areas where it's not raked,” Woods lamented.

“I had a couple of those balls where it was in those areas. It's like, is there a lot of sand here, is there not, how should I play it… I feel like sometimes in the sand I'm guessing…, and I guessed wrong.”

Masters champion Scottie Scheffler echoed his fellow major winners after a battling 1-over 73 where he was 1 from 3 from the sand, dropping two shots in his final three holes. While Scheffler understands the argument of the areas playing as true hazards like the years of lore, he claims modern conditions counteract the theory.

“Bunkers aren't supposed to be that easy to play out of (but) it's frustrating for sure to get in there and have a pebble kind of shoot your ball offline, something you can't see,” Scheffler said.

“I shouldn't be in too many bunkers and I put myself in three of them today, which is definitely not a place I want to be.

“If you were to go look at golf 100 years ago and people kind of appreciate bunkers being true hazards, but now with there being so many around the greens you really kind of need a good lie with how fast the greens are.

“And I don't really think it should be up to pure luck on whether or not you get a good or a bad lie in the bunker, so when they're in really great shape I think as players we all appreciate it.

We all appreciate on TOUR having bunker sand that's really, really good.”

There were 20 players who were perfect in sand saves with Matt Kuchar (67) and Y.E. Yang (71) the pick of the bunch with a 4 from 4 record. Kuchar actually holed out from the sand on the 9th hole for an unlikely birdie as he pushed his way into a tie for fourth, two shots back of leader Rory McIlroy. Xander Schauffele (68) was 3 from 3 from the sand and sits just three off the lead.