Xander Schauffele is still playing hurt, but is determined to get back to his 2024 form.
Xander Schauffele’s start at this week’s Valspar Championship makes it his third straight tournament since his return from injury, all while being on a pitch count.
He said he blew the pitch count ‘out of the water’ at last week’s Players Championship, where he made the cut but finished dead last after posting 77-81 over the weekend. The reigning PGA Championship winner and current Champion Golfer of the Year has not looked like himself as of late, which explains why he made the last-minute decision to tee it up at Innisbrook this week. He submitted his commitment to play just hours before last Friday’s 5 p.m. ET deadline.
“Just need to get more reps. As I feel sort of better and better, just need to get some reps under my belt,” Schauffele said Wednesday.
“Competition golf is not the same as trying to play golf at home. It’s been a process, and I’m pretty determined to play better. High bar was set after last year, and coming off of that season, I expected a lot of myself, and I still do now, even though it hasn’t really looked like that.”
Schauffele began the year at The Sentry in Maui but came nowhere close to contending. He then missed two months due to a rib injury, a setback he suffered while working out in late 2024.
“It’s harder than I thought. I didn’t think it was going to be this tricky,” Schauffele said of his comeback.
“Maybe I’m being a little impatient; it’s been two weeks of tournament golf for me, coming off of pretty much zero golf. I played Sentry, and then before that was the ZOZO (in October), so the layoff felt more than just that six weeks; it feels like I haven’t golfed in quite some time. I have expectations and I think my team has expectations and just try to be professional through and through. But that includes shooting better scores.”
Schauffele is grinding, hoping to re-discover his form before returning to Augusta National. He has a terrific record at The Masters, but has yet to secure a Green Jacket — something well within his grasp when he is on his game.
“I feel like I’m cramming for a test, and when I’m out there I feel like I’m still trying to study almost, not really just taking the test,” Schauffele added.
“What my dad taught me a long time ago is look at the ball and react to the ball and not to how your swing looks. I think I’ve gotten a little too nitpicky on swinging the club correctly and trying to get back in a good pattern when I was playing really good golf. Sometimes, when you just focus on the task at hand versus the result, you can get yourself there.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
