Scottie Scheffler and Carlos Ortiz both leaned on their experience from college golf to prepare them to play 30-plus holes Friday at the Memorial Tournament.
Scheffler played from 2014-18 at the University of Texas. Ortiz played from 2009-13 at the University of North Texas.
Because weather conditions forced the suspension of play Thursday night, Scheffler and Ortiz were up before 5 a.m. on Friday to finish their first rounds and then play the second round. Altogether, Ortiz played 31 holes and Scheffler played 30.
“We did this a lot in college,” Scheffler said. “We played a lot of 36-hole days, so I always had, or I felt like I always had success on those days. And so for me I was almost a little bit excited to be able to play that many holes in one day.”
Scheffler finished his first round with a 5-under 67 and shot a 71 in the second round to finish at 6-under through two rounds.
“I think just staying focused the whole time (was the hardest part),” Scheffler said. “These days get kind of long and if you kind of take a little mental break on this golf course it’s going to punish you really quick. So you got to stay on the whole time and there’s no shots that you can really take lightly.”
Ortiz birdied six holes and recorded just two bogeys over his second round to shoot a 4-under 68 and finish the first two rounds at 5-under — and was ready for a nap after finishing.
“I’m so tired,” Ortiz said. “It’s a long day. I’m used to playing from college 36 holes, but I don’t know, somehow it just, with this rough and being a tougher golf course, it just makes it (an) even longer day than normal. … It’s been a long day. I’m ready to take a nap.”