Schauffele looks to lift game out of loo
Defending Open champ hasn't been himself in 2025; Luck of the draw
Xander Schauffele had some fun before returning the Claret Jug (Oisin Keniry/R&A via Getty Images)
PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Xander Schauffele handed back the Claret Jug earlier this week, his reign as Champion Golfer of the Year effectively over while looking ahead to see if he can conquer one of golf’s greatest challenges again.
Schauffele, who remains third in the Official World Golf Ranking despite not contending in any tournaments for the bulk of this season, was asked last week at the Genesis Scottish Open how his life changed after winning the Open at Royal Troon following his victory two months earlier at the PGA Championship in 2024.
“I drank a little bit more than I normally do, that was probably the biggest change that I had in my life was trending towards an alcoholic. It’s been awesome,” Schauffele said, laughing.
Then, in trying to explain the frustrations of a season that has seen him post just a one top-10 finish before his T8 in Scotland, Schauffele deadpanned about what he saw upon entering the media center.
“It was nice to see my photo out by the toilet. That was heartwarming,” he joked. “Summed up how I feel about what's going on right now. I actually chuckled when I saw that one.”
The state of his game, however, has been no laughing matter as his title defense at Royal Portrush looms.
While fretting about the possible UK tabloid headlines he might have conjured up with his drinking and bathroom humor, Schauffele also acknowledged a hard truth about his season.
“It’s just bad across the board,” he said. “I mean — there’s a lot of parts. There isn’t just one.”
To be fair, it would have been difficult to top last year, which saw Schauffele win those two major championships and post a whopping 15 top-10 finishes. Included were four top-10s in the major championships.
But Schauffele has not been the same since returning from a rib injury that caused him to shut it down in early January until March. Described as a small cartilage tear and an intercostal strain, Schauffele, 31, returned at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, shot 77-81 on the weekend at the Players Championship, and has experienced only glimmers of his great form from a year ago even as he extends a remarkable streak of 68 consecutive cuts made.
“I’d say the belief is good. I don’t think I’ve given myself a lot of reasons to believe that I’m playing okay. It’s been a pretty bad year to be completely honest,” he said. “I feel like I haven’t tried to add on too many other events, and I’ve tried to just play to get to an incredible place with less starts, which is really hard to do these days.
“I’m trying to do a lot of things, and I think the best part of my game has probably been my mental fortitude, whatever you want to call it, just to try to stay positive and behave as if I am playing really well. But coming off a year like last year, getting hurt, coming back, my expectations and playing ability have not cued up very nicely.”
His game hasn’t given Schauffele much to smile about this season (Charlie Crowhurst/R&A via Getty Images)
Schauffele, who began working with instructor Chris Como early in 2024 and saw immediate results, said it’s been a matter of not feeling comfortable with many of the changes he made a year ago and being unable to return to a place where he simply aimed at the target and swung the club.
It’s a bit more technical than that but Schauffele explained that “it's been a weird year for me just from coming off year I had last year into sort of what I did just kind of disappearing and then playing bad coming out of it.
“So any expectation I had of whatever I thought I was capable of doing, from a feel standpoint last year, has been sort of reset and I am in full chase mode, like a kid.”
For example, Schauffele is 48th in FedEx Cup points, which means while he is more or less safe to make the FedEx Cup playoffs starting field of 70, he’s not a lock for the top 50 BMW Championship field — which also assures a spot in all of the signature events in 2026.
Schauffele, who has nine PGA Tour victories, has never failed to make it to the Tour Championship for the top 30 players, starting with his rookie year in 2017.
Six years ago, he tied for 41st in the 2019 Open at Royal Portrush, where Shane Lowry won.
“I just remember it being the hardest rain I’ve ever played in,” he said. “Almost to where you’re like, ‘Wow, we’re still golfing!’ you know. That’s sort of what I remember. But like I said, I always enjoy the challenge. So looking forward to re-learning the course. … I forgot how difficult it is and how penalizing it can be.”
And for reestablishing himself near the top of the game.
“I think I’ve just been angry-ish,” he said. “That’s like been the biggest emotion of this is frustrating, versus why we love playing to be in contention and kind of see what you can do. But that part’s been humbling. So you know, it’s a battle, and I’m going to try and win it.”
Northern Ireland crowds flock to see native Rory McIlroy (Stuart Franklin/R&A via Getty Images)
Open hurdles: Rain, rough, bunkers and luck
By Alex Miceli
The Open Championship at Royal Portrush began in the wee hours U.S. time on Thursday with no clear favorite, but with the usual suspects mentioned.
Be it an American like Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele or Collin Morikawa on the short list of potential players to add to their major résumé; a European major winner like Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Shane Lowry or Justin Rose; or breakthrough candidate like Tommy Fleetwood, Viktor Hovland, Tyrrell Hatton or Ludvig Åberg, the list of potential winners is long.
But with so many non-standard players having broken through in their way in 2025 — J.J. Spaun, Ben Griffin, Ryan Fox, and Aldrich Potgieter — other names could be part of the mix on Sunday.
How a player gets in contention on Sunday is a combination of draw, luck and solid play over four days. With a forecast that includes some rain in each of the four days of competition, it could change the way the course plays, but since the weather has been relatively dry this spring, a little rain likely will do little to take the fire out of a firm and fast Royal Portrush.
“I think it’s a little bit firmer than it was, but we’re going to have a little bit of rain over the next few days,” Lowry, the 2019 winner at Royal Portrush, said of the course. “I don't know if that rain will have a massive effect on the course, depending on how heavy it is. I don’t really plan to approach the course any differently.”
Royal Portrush is a course where driving in the fairway may be more critical than at most Open Championship venues, with substantial rough and penal fairway bunkering.
“I have a real appreciation for how well bunkered it is off the tee,” McIlroy said after his first practice round on Monday. “It’s like, okay, well, I can hit a 2-iron off the tee, but that brings this bunker into play. But then if I hit driver, it'll bring this bunker — so you have to take on the shot.”
Lowry admitted he had forgotten how well bunkered the course is, but also believes there are numerous options off the tee.
“You just have to go with what you feel,” Lowry said. “You’re going to see a lot of people hitting different clubs off different tees, playing the golf course differently.”
Once the tee shot is in the rearview mirror, the approach is not a typical one, due mainly to the firmness of the turf.
Scheffler sees a plethora of shots that can be used around the greens, and getting the ball on the ground as quickly as possible is imperative.
“Trying to apply a lot of spin and hit these low, nipping wedge shots doesn’t provide the same amount of control that it does in the States,” Scheffler said. “Here, it almost seems like the quicker you get the ball on the ground rolling around the pin, the quicker the ball is going to be able to stop. But if you hit shots in the States with a lot of topspin, it's almost like the ball is never going to stop rolling.”
Scheffler could see using his putter from as far as 70 yards out, even with the green conditions that are part of this year’s Open Championship.
Or, depending on the lie, a 60-degree wedge or anything else that will give him the best opportunity to get up and down.
While the draw and where your tee times are can be considered some luck, the real luck begins after a player tees up on the first tee.
Inside the ropes, luck can bounce a ball left when the bunker is right or stop it short when another yard would be an inevitable disaster.
This week, it’s an expected result that luck, both good and bad, could make the difference.
“I think this is a bit more of a natural setting where, if you hit it into the stuff, you may get a great lie, you may be in a bush,” Scheffler said. “You just don’t really know when you hit it offline. That’s why you’ve got to try to keep the ball in the fairway.”