Scottie Scheffler has had a tournament to forget at the U.S. Open but the world No. 1 remains in high esteem among his fellow peers as the final round at Oakmont approaches

Scheffler, despite not having his best stuff, grinded out a 1-over-par 71 in Friday’s second round to keep himself in contention, at 4-over par, to win his second major of the year, and the third leg of a career Grand Slam. He spent much of the day hovering around the cut line, which was projected to be 5-over while he was playing.

Scottie Scheffler battled his way to a 1-over 71 at the U.S. Open. That was a slight improvement on his first-round 73 but still not the type of performance that’s made him the game’s dominant player the past three years.

Scottie Scheffler is among the players who have been off the pace at Oakmont Country Club this week, and he has seemingly started to lose his cool on the greens and fairways as a result

Scottie Scheffler kept coming back to the same answer when asked in different ways how a day that began with optimism at the U.S. Open turned into a 5 1/2-hour slog that left him well off the front page of the leaderboard.

As a result, many golfers become close with each other, which is exactly what happened with Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns. The two golfers have developed as players simultaneously, of course with Scheffler reaching heights far higher than Burns thus far.

Scheffler’s game has not been where he wants it, but he sits in a tie for 11th entering the final round at Oakmont.