In first start back after injury, Xander Schauffele keeps impressive PGA Tour streak alive

Xander Schauffele kept a years-long streak alive at this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.

After making his season debut at The Sentry in Maui, Xander Schauffele missed the next two months due to a nagging rib injury.

He returned to competition at this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he understandably looked rusty during Thursday’s first round. The current World No. 3 shot an opening 5-over 77 on day one and found himself in a position he has not been in for quite some time: outside the cut line and looking in.

“Got my ass kicked,” Schauffele said with a smile on Thusday.

“Yeah, it’s a tough place to come back to, not going to lie.”

He added that he felt “great”, but deep down, he knew another round like this would snap an impressive streak.

Entering this week, Schauffele had made 57 straight cuts, a streak that extends back to the 2022 Masters Tournament. It’s the longest active streak on the PGA Tour and the longest since Tiger Woods made 142 straight from 1998 to 2005.

Schauffele opened Friday’s second round with a birdie on the par-4 1st hole and added two more par-breakers on the front nine. But after turning with a 3-under 33, disaster struck on the 11th and 12th holes.

He found the water with his second shot from the fairway bunker on 11, a mistake that he equated to getting “hit in the face with a frying pan.” On the next hole, Schauffele made an uncharacteristic mistake from beside the green, where he hoped to make a birdie four. It instead turned into a seven.

Like that, last year’s PGA Championship winner and current Champion Golfer of the year plummeted down the leaderboard to 6-over par, two shots above the cut line.

But in true Schauffele fashion, he bounced back with birdies on the 13th, 14th, and 16th holes, which all but earned him a Saturday tee time and extended his streak to 58 cuts in a row.

“It’s a cool thing. I tried really hard to not quit. Even today going double, double sitting in a really nice spot it was an easy time to get frustrated,” Schauffele said.

“But I said earlier in the week I’m going to have to go to a special place to play decent golf, and I had to dig deep. So it was good practice on that front. [My caddy] Austin [Kaiser] and I are proud of our cut streak, no doubt. Is it what we think about? No. But usually when you focus on winning you make a lot of cuts and end up somewhere in between.”

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.