Xander Schauffele smiles during his pre-tournament press conference at East Lake Golf Club on August 22, 2023. | Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR via Getty Images
Schauffele automatically qualified for the U.S. Ryder Cup team for the first time Sunday, but his initial reaction was quite hysterical.
ATLANTA — Xander Schauffle automatically qualified for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, which he is quite proud of. But his initial reaction to making the 2023 squad was quite hysterical.
“I was hot and just pissed off,” Schauffele said, chuckling. “I just bogeyed my last hole from like 150 yards out with a pitching wedge. And the pin was in a bowl.”
As one of the most competitive guys on the PGA Tour, Schauffele could not get over his dropped shot on the final hole at Olympia Fields. He hates bogeying the last hole of any round, regardless if he makes the cut or not.
Nevertheless, Schauffele dunked his second shot from the fairway into the right greenside bunker, leading to his bogey. That dropped him from 10-under to 9-under overall at the BMW Championship.
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Xander Schauffele plays a shot during the final round of the 2023 BMW Championship.
He consequently finished in a tie for eighth at Olympia Fields, which resulted in him finishing in 15th in the FedEx Cup standings. He will begin the Tour Championship at 3-under par.
“Right when it happened they told me and I was kind of just like ‘sick,’ you know what I mean? Like, that’s great,” Schauffele said cheekily. “But once I was able to talk about it and think beyond my bogey that I just made, and get over myself, I was happy.”
The former San Diego State Aztec has never automatically qualified for the U.S. Ryder Cup team, something that has become increasingly harder to do since the amount of captain’s picks have increased over the years.
“It’s quite an honor to actually qualify for one instead of being picked,” Schauffele noted.
At the 2021 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits, Captain Steve Stricker used one of his six picks on Schauffele, who made his Ryder Cup debut that week.
He proved to be a star.
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Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas celebrate their Ryder Cup victory in 2021.
He went on to win three matches in foursomes and fourballs, then lost to Rory McIlroy in the Sunday singles.
This year, Schauffele is on the team and excited to don the stars and stripes on European soil for the first time.
He also knows that playing in Italy will be no easy task.
“From what I hear, the Europeans are setting up [Marco Simone] to be really narrow with really thick rough,” Schauffele said.
“It’s a hike too. So I definitely am going to try and, with all that said, hit the ball a little straighter, get into good cardio shape, and make sure my game’s ready and not rusty whatsoever to compete.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
