By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Xander Schauffele said a quick pep talk with himself after he endured a stretch of three back-nine bogeys helped him shift the momentum and stay in the mix for a first U.S. Open title.
Schauffele birdied the difficult final two holes at the Los Angeles Country Club on Friday to follow up his history-making opening round 62 with an even par 70 and sit two back of leader Rickie Fowler.
“Within a few steps, just get over it,” Schauffele said when asked what he said to himself after he left 15, where he made his fourth bogey of the day and third in a row.
“So I got over stuff pretty quickly today. I was upset, but I knew I’m swinging it too good to let the round get away from me, so it was nice to finish well.”
Schauffele, who has five top-10 finishes in his six U.S. Open starts, is searching for his first major title, which he has come tantalizingly close to capturing time and again on the sport’s biggest stages.
He said he looked forward to the extra sleep that will come with his later tee time on Saturday, where he is paired with Rory McIlroy.
He said he would embrace the firmer course conditions that will come with the warmer weekend weather and require him to play his very best.
“You just have to hit your spots,” he said.
“I got sloppy in certain spots and missed my number and I made bogeys pretty quickly. If you want to avoid doing that, you just have to be better, and that’s what the course is going to ask of you on the weekend.”
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Stephen Coates)
