1 week Ago By Thomas Bristow
Following a remarkable 2024 with two major wins , 2025 has been a testing year for Xander Schauffele - and it's only April. But heading into the Masters the world No. 3 is putting his problems behind him and has a renewed sense of confidence.
A rib injury sustained in the offseason was worsened by what he called a "dumb" decision to play at The Sentry in January. This led to a two-month layoff for Schauffele, something he hadn't experienced before and it led to quite the emotional journey. His return at the Arnold Palmer Invitational proved to be a brutal reality check with the 31-year-old finishing tied-40th and admitting he got his "a-- kicked".
Things didn't get much better at the Players a week later, despite making the cut Schauffele finished 72nd with 13-over. But a tied-12th performance at the Valspar Championship has given him some reason for hope. Let's look at the facts in Schauffele's own words.
Speaking on Monday it was clear Schauffele very much blamed himself for the injury. Had he not pushed it at The Sentry he potentially wouldn't have been sidelined for so long. "Definitely didn't feel unlucky," he said.
"I felt dumb at one point sort of being at the brunt of it's my fault. Felt a little unprofessional, felt irresponsible and I felt sad. Then I was motivated, then I felt sad again.
Then motivated finally. "I don't know if there's like a grieving process, but I kind of dealt with it on my own. Like I said, I knew I was going to come back and play, I just didn't know when.
" Schauffele was asked if watching Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, who was also making his way back from injury, was either motivating or intimidating. He made it clear it was the former. "More motivating than anything else," Schauffele responded.
"They've been playing incredible golf. Rory has been playing unbelievably well this year with a couple of wins already and kind of breezing through what looks like hard golf courses." But he did add that he wasn't quite ready for the mental toll that goes with an injury.
Maybe I was more emotionally unstable than I thought I was through certain weeks," he said with a smile. "Everything is gravy when it's gravy. It was a nice wake-up call to maybe be a little more responsible when need be.
No, it was a reminder of how much I love to play and compete." After two months out of the game, rust was inevitable. Schauffele though was probably not quite prepared for the welcome back he received.
"Yeah, [I] got my a-- kicked yeah, it's a tough place to come back to, not going to lie," he said after the Arnold Palmer Invitational. "Palm Springs would have been nice, something like that, that would have been a little bit easier, miss a couple, get away with it. "I knew a bit of a masochist I guess.
I knew I was going to come in on short notice to what is sort of like a major championship setup around the greens, and with the greens being crusty, I really felt it there more than anything else." Putting his performances at the Arnold Palmer and Players behind him, Schauffele rallied back with an impressive showing at Valspar - particularly with a strong final round of 66. When asked if he's turned a corner, he replied, "I think so," before adding why.
Just mentally more so, I think. I've never really dealt with injury before, so I've never really been sidelined. "I'm trying to find all the positives to attach to the situation, and me not being hurt before and sitting at home thinking all these thoughts, watching everyone else play golf and sort of fly by me, it's been very motivating.
Just trying to use that to perform at a higher level." Coming through it all and sitting in the press room on Monday, Schauffele backed himself to return to his 2024 form and clinch a green jacket. While scans show no physical trauma, there certainly isn't any of the mental kind for Schauffele either.
"As soon as I got the green light, all the scans came back clean, everyone was telling me I was good, I was out the door running," he said. "People were trying to holster me a little bit longer, know that I'm just going to go berserk and try and hit too many balls." He added: "There hasn't been any sort of setbacks since starting.
I haven't thought about my rib or anything of that nature, which is -- that's the nicest thing about it." When asked if he can win the first major of the year, he confidently replied: "Absolutely, yeah. I think I know what I'm capable of when I'm feeling good, when I'm not thinking of anything but getting the ball in the hole.
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