Double major winner Xander Schauffele called himself "an idiot" after carding a quadruple-bogey eight on an opening day to forget at the PGA Tour's Zozo Championship in Japan on Thursday. Schauffele's three-over 73 left him 10 strokes behind the first-round leader, American Taylor Moore, who had an eagle on the 18th on his way to a 63. The 2024 US PGA and British Open champion Schauffele found that his wayward tee shot on the par-four ninth at Narashino Country Club had wedged itself among tree roots.
He attempted twice to hit the ball but failed to dislodge it and looked set to take a third swipe at it before shaking his head, laughing and opting to take a penalty drop for an unplayable lie. "I wanted to take a photo of it almost, how bad it was," said the 30-year-old American. "For me to think I can do anything definitely got me in a hole there," he said.
"I should have just taken an unplayable, but I was an idiot and tried to hit it. Then I was stubborn and tried to hit it again, then finally took an unplayable." The eight was the only blemish on an otherwise uneventful three-over card which had one birdie and 16 pars.
"Overall it was pretty low stress for most of the day," he said after finishing in a tie for 70th. Sign up to get our free daily email of the biggest stories! "Like 85 percent of the day was not very stressful." Schauffele was not the only big name to struggle on a tough day in Chiba, near Tokyo.
Defending champion Collin Morikawa opened with a birdie three,.
