By Frank Pingue
BROOKLINE, Mass. (Reuters) – MJ Daffue may have squandered a three-stroke lead late during his second round of the U.S. Open but the South African still left a lasting impression in his major debut as he produced the most bizarre shot of the week on Friday.
Daffue’s tee shot at the par-five 14th settled on a raised hospitality deck from where he had the option to take a drop in the thick rough below or hit from the carpeted surface through a small gap lined by a fence to his right and a tree to the left.
Daffue, who was clinging to a two-shot lead at the time, boldly went for it and his second shot found the rough left of the green from where he chunked his chip en route to one of three back-nine bogeys.
“The thing about that (lie) is it’s got a little bit of spring in it, so even if you hit a little bit behind it, the club will bounce, and it will actually bounce into the ball,” said Daffue.
“For me I was far enough left to actually miss the tree on the left. I think it was an awesome shot, but a birdie would have been better than a bogey.”
Daffue, a 33-year-old career grinder who only made a late decision to attempt qualifying for the U.S. Open after finally earning his PGA Tour card, went on to shoot a two-over par 72 that left him at one under on the week at The Country Club.
The South African, who began the second round in a five-way share of second and one shot back of overnight leader Adam Hadwin, covered the front nine in three-under 32 and made the turn three shots clear of a packed leaderboard.
Things started to unravel at the par-three 11th where his ball bounced off the back of the green, leading to a bogey.
He followed his adventure at the 14th with a bogey at the 15th where he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker and then closed his round with a double-bogey at the last.
While Daffue is still in contention, he knows full well he missed an opportunity to take control of the year’s third major but still took comfort in how it all worked out.
“Not a lot of people get to lead the U.S. Open by three shots. I just told myself, enjoy it. You’ve done a lot of work. It’s finally paying off,” said Daffue.
“We’ll try our best the next two rounds, but whatever happens this week, I’ve already done a lot of things here, and in the process I was able to entertain some people today, too. It’s been good.”
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Brookline, Massachusetts, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
