It was only a matter of time before a 2023 Ryder Cupper said something that would turn into bulletin board material. And it looks like Xander Schauffele has thrown the first stone. It doesn’t matter if it’s accidental or intentional. It’s happened and we’re sure the Europeans are using this as motivation.

In a Q&A with Gabrielle Herzig of Sports Illustrated, Schauffele broke down quite a few Ryder Cup questions, including how the team are feeling about the international losing streak. Schauffele went into a good amount of detail on how the team is feeling, what happened at Whistling Straits and what it’ll take to finally win overseas.

“Nothing special,” he said. “It may sound weird, but we didn’t do anything special at Whistling Straits. All the boys who were there are aware of that, and we have quite a few repeat guys on the team. We’ll stick behind our stats, our team leaders and our captains and go do our thing.”

Let’s see Team Europe hang “We didn’t do anything special” on a banner if they defend their home turf once again. That’s the back-and-forth all Ryder Cups should have.

The US team have allegedly not discussed their losing ways abroad and are just trying to focus on what’s coming up. That’s strong leadership at work. Always look forward.

“We’re not really tainted by that sort of talk,” Schauffele added. “People told me we haven’t won since before I was born. I think that’s great, because I don’t really care. I don’t think anyone really cares. No one has talked about it, because of course, no one likes talking about losing.

“It isn’t really something that’s been brought up a lot to us. I’m not on social media a crazy amount, so I haven’t really seen it. But none of us are talking about anything of that nature. We’re looking forward to the week and bringing that thing back.”

The US team’s group chat is apparently “firing up for sure”, especially since Schauffele couldn’t make it out to Italy earlier in the month due to a “family matter”. Insider intel certainly couldn’t hurt but there’s also the assumption that things might not be what they seem: “I’m sure the Europeans tried to trick it up a little bit for our boys that went to go practise.”

He may have just been answering a question, but “nothing special” is certainly a nice little rallying cry for a European squad trying to keep up their winning ways. Whether an upset is in the works is yet to be seen, but we do finally know for certain that Schauffele will be eating “some sort of pasta” while in Italy. The breaking news never stops.

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By now, golf fans are well aware of Xander Schauffele’s prowess at East Lake. The PGA Tour star has shot par or better in all 28 career rounds there at the Tour Championship, and it’s usually way better than par like his Sunday 62 that bumped his career scoring average in Atlanta below 67.

He also could be a three-time winner in just seven starts in the season finale if the PGA Tour hadn’t implemented the starting strokes system in 2019. Schauffele won the event as a rookie in 2017 and has also tied for the low 72-hole score twice since, including this year when he matched winner and FedEx Cup champ Viktor Hovland with a 19-under-par total for four rounds.

But thanks to our friends at Data Golf, we know how Xander at East Lake stacks up to other players’ performances at certain courses. And other than Tiger Woods (naturally), he’s played better there than any golfer has played anywhere going back nearly two decades. Check out this crazy stat:

From this week's newsletter, the best single-course histories since 2004: pic.twitter.com/lbJqqwgc54

— data golf (@DataGolf) August 29, 2023

Again, this only goes back to 2004, but it’s still darn impressive. As you can see, only Tiger’s track record at Cog Hill, where he won five times (three Western Opens and two BMW Championships) gained an average of 3.8 strokes on the field in 24 rounds, is better than Xander’s 3.6 strokes gained at East Lake. And as you can also see, Tiger was also pretty darned good at East Lake, where he won twice (2007 and 2018) and gained an average of 3.2 strokes.

Going farther down the list, you’ll find the two best at a major venue. Of course, that venue is Augusta National, and those two players are Jon Rahm (2.9 strokes gained in 28 career rounds) and Jordan Spieth (2.8 strokes gained in 38 career rounds). So keep that in mind when you’re making your 2024 Masters picks.

As for the 2024 Tour Championship, it appears only two things could potentially stop Schauffele from winning. Starting too far behind again, and the “dramatic” year-long renovation East Lake just began on Tuesday. Sorry, Xander.

The post Why Tour Championship Xander Schauffele is basically the greatest golfer ever appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Xander Schauffele shot eight-under 62 on Sunday at the Tour Championship and lost. Lost being relative, as he topped 28 others, but could not make much of a dent on the lead from the man ahead, a man who is playing better than anyone else on the planet.

Schauffele, an East Lake lover, has played some of the best golf of his career on these famed fairways and this week was no different even though he entered the final round six shots behind Hovland in the race to the $18 million first-place prize.

Settling for $6.5 million isn’t a bad consolation prize.

After the first six holes on Sunday, Schauffele was four-under par. But Hovland was too. Schauffele made the turn in 30. Hovland made the turn in 31. Both men were three-under on the last nine holes, but Hovland’s were on the last three holes to win by five shots after shooting 63. A par save from 23 feet on the 14th hole by Hovland was the final dagger.

“I thought 62 would have let me get close to him, but I think the closest I got to was three shots back,” Schauffele said. “He played unbelievably well. He made important putts and he’s just played like a champ.”

Speaking of champ — although Schauffele has not won a FedEx Cup, he has three second-place finishes and six top-five finishes in seven attempts. He won the 2017 Tour Championship at East Lake but finished third in the standings when the format was different than it is now.

“Yeah, I’ll hold my head up high,” he said. “It was the most fun I had losing in quite some time. It’s such a weird feeling. I shot 62. I lost by five.”

Again, losing is relative.

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“The Energy Bus” is a best-selling self-help book by Jon Gordon which purports to teach you “10 rules to fuel your life, work, and team with positive energy”. It also happens to be the most important of the books Wyndham Clark has been reading this year in an attempt to rescue what has been, by his own admission, a disastrous on-course mindset.

“It sounds kind of lame,” Clark said, repeating the title for curious reporters, “but actually it’s a really good book.”

We can say this for certain: There was nothing lame about Clark’s Saturday at the Wells Fargo Championship, where he shot a bogey-free 63 — and nearly went 18-for-18 in greens in regulation — to vault from the second-to-last group into a commanding lead at 16-under. His was the best round of the day, and the second-best belonged to Xander Schauffele, his playing partner, who nearly went toe-to-toe with Clark in shooting a 64, leaving him two shots off the lead. The red-hot pairing, shooting a theoretical best-ball 60, leapfrogged Tyrrell Hatton and Nate Lashley in the last group to put those two and the rest of the field in the rear-view mirror, with Hatton and Adam Scott closest at 11-under. On Kentucky Derby day, Clark and Schauffele may have turned the Wells Fargo into a two-horse race.

When trying to pinpoint what Clark did well on Saturday, you’re forced into a glib answer: everything. He poured in birdie putts of 22, 9, and 11 feet to finish fourth in strokes gained/putting for his round, stayed all over the pin with his irons to finish third in strokes gained/approach, and was also third in strokes gained/off the tee. When he did make an error with his driver, it was to hit the ball almost too well:

Going the distance ?@Wyndham_Clark drove it PAST the green on the drivable par-4 8th @WellsFargoGolf. pic.twitter.com/a5D5WVe6wo

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 6, 2023

For Clark, his torrid play of late can be attributed to a sorely needed attitude adjustment.

“I’d say I wasn’t as good of a player as I am now,” Clark said of his past chances to win on tour. “I also think mentally, I was a lot more impatient and fragile out there. I’m excited to see how I handle the pressure tomorrow. It’s going to be a fun challenge. Obviously it’s going to be tough. I’ve got one of the best players in the world right behind me and a bunch of other good players.”

As Clark explained, the energy bus is about how to frame events in your life in a positive way while flooding yourself and those around you with positive energy, which is essentially the opposite of his previous approach. Even when he was playing well, he’d let frustration overcome him, to the point that those around him, including his caddie John Ellis insisted that he make a serious effort to change.

“This time I kind of went all in,” he explained. “I was very frustrated with playing good golf but not getting the results. I said, all right, this is kind of the last straw for me.”

He’s already notched three top 10s in 2023, and on Sunday he’ll have an opportunity to finish out the best tournament of his life.

Standing in his way, for the second straight day, is Schauffele, who shot the day’s second-best round and needed every bit of it to stay within hollering distance of Clark.

“Monkey see, monkey do is definitely a thing that happens out here,” he said with a smile after his round. “It’s just one of those things out here, I feel like I’ve said it before in interviews, you just see someone doing it. Fortunately, it was the guy next to me that I played all day.”

Schauffele went out in 32, but after a bogey on 12 he had started to fade in the presence of Clark’s supernova. At that point, he caught fire himself, hitting an approach to tap-in distance on 14, burying a 12-footer on 16, and pouring in this eagle on 15:

Making moves ?@XSchauffele is solo second and three shots off the lead after an eagle on No. 15 @WellsFargoGolf. pic.twitter.com/naTEFYwqaj

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 6, 2023

Only a missed 11-footer for birdie on 18 kept him from creeping to within a shot of Clark, and with that closing stretch, he at least made his opponent pay attention.

“I birdied 13 and I was kind of steady Eddie,” Clark said, “I think that kind of got him to where he’s like, all right, I’m now three, four back, I’ve got to put the pedal down. I think that’s kind of what happened, I think he got maybe a little more aggressive. I thought Xander was going to birdie in.”

Beyond their group, it was a low-key, almost sleepy affair at Quail Hollow, with plenty of scores in the 60s on a very approachable day. Beyond Scott and Hatton, three players lurk at 10-under, six shots behind Clark, including Harris English, Tommy Fleetwood and Sungjae Im. Brendon Todd, in the midst of his latest career surge, turned in the third-best round on Saturday, shooting 65 to play himself into contention at nine under, while a large group that includes Max Homa and Lashley are a further shot behind. Lashley, one of the 36-hole co-leaders, will walk away with the most regret after an even-par 71 that simply wasn’t good enough on a true moving day.

It’s a formidable chase pack, but Clark and Schauffele have distanced themselves sufficiently that even a solid round should keep them far away from their pursuers. And as life-changing as a win would be for Clark, it would also put Schauffele back in the conversation when it comes to the game’s elite golfers; a conversation that has somewhat excluded the World No. 5 in a year dominated by Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler.

“I hope we do the same thing tomorrow,” Clark said, surely speaking for both, “because it was a lot of fun. “

As long as they stay on the energy bus, the next stop is a big trophy and an even bigger pay cheque.

The post Two-horse race on Kentucky Derby Day: Wyndham Clark and Xander Schauffele ride the ‘energy bus,’ put up scorching rounds at Wells Fargo appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Xander Schauffele proved on Thursday that it doesn’t matter how good you are — or how well you’re playing — Quail Hollow’s vaunted “Green Mile” can still trip you up.

The seven-time PGA Tour winner was in the zone and in the lead on Day 1 at the Wells Fargo Championship. But after making two bogeys in the difficult three-hole closing stretch — including one on No. 18 after his tee shot found the creek — Schauffele had to settle for a five-under-par 66.

“I really had it going there,” Schauffele told reporters after. “Ball was on a string for a bit, did everything really well. It’s a championship-style golf course, so played really well through 15 holes and then had a little hiccup there coming in, so it is what it is.”

Still, there’s plenty to feel good about for Schauffele, who is part of a five-way tie for second after the first round. So the 29-year-old should feel pretty confident heading into Friday.

“Yeah, I had a big enough head start on the course that I figured giving some back wouldn’t hurt me too much,” he added.

OK, maybe not that confident. Anyway, here are four other takeaways from Thursday at Quail Hollow.

Tommy Fleetwood’s fantastic finish

Not everyone stumbled coming home, though, on Thursday. Tommy Fleetwood actually thrived with a pair of birdies to finish his round and take the solo lead at six-under.

“Yeah, you can obviously look at it as you can make it as daunting or as simple as you want to make it,” Fleetwood said. “There’s somebody that’s going to hit a great shot on all of those holes today, like the shot today at 18, I made a birdie. There’s good shots out there and you have to always be looking for them and you always have to feel like you can hit one of those. Whether you do or not is a different story, but believing you can is the first part.”

Finishing in style on 18 ?@TommyFleetwood1 birdies the toughest hole on the course today and takes the co-lead @WellsFargoGolf. pic.twitter.com/ahwuXfMAam

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 4, 2023

Fleetwood, a six-time DP World Tour winner, certainly believes that he has the game to win on the PGA Tour as well. For whatever reason, though, it hasn’t happened yet. But after putting himself in fantastic position to make his maiden victory a big one at a designated event, he knows he’s got a lot of work to do.

“Look, today was just another round of golf,” Fleetwood said. “There’s a lot more to play, a lot more to play in the year. But yeah, good rounds builds confidence and that’s the only way sort of you can gain confidence is by going out there and playing well. See if we can keep it up.”

Speaking of building confidence . . .

Pat and Joe’s solid start

News that Tiger Woods’ longtime looper, Joe LaCava, was now Patrick Cantlay’s full-time caddie shocked the golf world on Tuesday. Far less shocking is the tandem getting off to a great start on Thursday.

Cantlay opened with a four-under-par 67, and seemed to get about 67 questions on the new partnership after. Here’s what we learned:

• It’s a “pretty easy transition” given their experience and friendship.
• They don’t talk a lot of golf in between shots.
• LaCava helped him with a couple reads on the green, including with a “tricky” birdie on No. 8.
• Pat didn’t need any pep talks from Joe on Thursday.
• Joe is already trying to convert Pat into a Yankees fan.

We’re not sure about how that last one will go given Cantlay’s SoCal roots, but we’re pretty sure these two are going to do just fine on the course.

Rory’s lucky birthday break

We know Rory McIlroy loves Quail Hollow and Quail Hollow loves Rory McIlroy. Heck, they named a bald eagle there after him a few years ago, but this was something else.

McIlroy hit a fine shot on the par-3 fourth hole (McIlroy’s 13th of the day) on Thursday, but his golf ball was going to run well towards the back of the green. Until it hit Matt Fitzpatrick’s golf ball, which was sitting about three feet from the hole. The result was both of them having near kick-in birdies (Fitzpatrick got to replace his ball where it was). Have a look:

Bumper golf ?@McIlroyRory answers with a dart and gets a little help from Fitzpatrick's ball @WellsFargoGolf. https://t.co/4hrgzGDyco pic.twitter.com/CnOSeL4pL8

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 4, 2023

How about that for a birthday present? That took McIlroy, who turned 34 on Thursday, to three under, which is how he finished his round. And even though he trails Fleetwood by three shots, DraftKings has him as the favorite to win for a fourth time at Quail Hollow.

KH Lee’s bizarre streak continues

The good news for KH Lee? He opened the Wells Fargo Championship with a 66. The bad news for KH Lee? He opened the Wells Fargo Championship with a 66. Confused? Let’s explain.

In a rather odd coincidence — especially because TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm hosted the event last year — this is the third consecutive year Lee has begun this tournament by shooting 66. And, also oddly, it hasn’t led to any particularly high finishes. Lee finished T-25 in Maryland last year and T-58 at Quail Hollow in 2021.

“Yeah, have really excited memory when I tee up the first hole and then even when I bogey or (inaudible) still I’m so happy here,” said Lee, who also played at Quail Hollow in last year’s Presidents Cup. “I just enjoyed it today and then I think (inaudible) make more birdies today.”

Imagine how happy he’ll be then if he actually strings a couple more good rounds together. That being said, Lee has also won the AT&T Byron Nelson the following week in each of the past two years so that seems like a pretty good trade-off. In other words, it looks like the rest of the guys will be playing for second place in Dallas again next week.

The post Xander Schauffele’s ‘Green Mile’ stumble, Rory McIlroy’s lucky birthday break, and a weird Wells Fargo streak continues appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The defending champs are going to be tough to beat

Following an opening four-ball score of 67, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay needed a low score in foursomes just to make the cut. They did that and then some, firing a nine-under 63 to break the tournament record.

“We needed to be aggressive here in alternate shot, which is a little dangerous, especially if it gets windy,” Schauffele said. “So fortunately this morning we took advantage of really calm conditions and then played some of our better golf when the wind picked up a little bit. It was just necessary.”

Even the weather delay couldn’t deter the California pals, who entered this week as the favourites — and remain that way heading into the weekend.

“I think it’s just Xander is really good, and I can play well, too,” Cantlay said. “So when we get two guys together that are really good, and I think it helps that we’re friends, but when you get two world-class players playing together and we both have a day where we’re on like today, we can post a low one.”

In addition to the record score in alternate shot, their front-nine 30 also established a new tournament best. This after setting records for best four-ball score (59) and four-day total (29 under) during last year’s win.

“We’d like to get that 59 again in best ball,” Cantlay said. “We’re going to try.”

If they pull that off, everyone else will be trying for second place.

A pair of childhood friends take the lead

That being said, Schauffele and Cantlay don’t hold the 36-hole lead. in fact, they trail three teams, including the duo of Wyndham Clark and Beau Hossler, whose bogey-free 67 put them at 16 under, one shot in front of the tandems of Sungjae Im-Keith Mitchell and Sam Ryder-Doc Redman.

While Schauffele and Cantlay have gotten close in recent years playing in Ryder and Presidents Cups, Clark and Hossler go father back.

“We’ve known each other since we were 10,” Clark said. “We’ve been friends for a long time, so that was not an issue. It was more we both didn’t have partners going into the LA Open at Riviera, and we were paired together the first two days, and we kind of were talking it through, and by the end of the first two days, we were like, all right, let’s play together.”

So far, that’s proved to be a smart decision. Although, that answer was followed by this funny exchange:
Q. How did you meet at that young age?
BEAU HOSSLER: Just junior tournaments. Obviously Wyndham grew up in Denver, I grew up in California, and obviously at that age it would be more of like a regional tournament, and then as we got older it grew into national tournaments, and then us being close to the same age, we played in college together and got on Tour probably within a year of each other. It feels like we’ve never not really been playing golf together.
WYNDHAM CLARK: Unfortunately.

Funny stuff, Wyndham, but if you guys team up to win your maiden PGA Tour titles, you’re going to be best friends forever.

The Fitzpatrick brothers cool down

OK, so no pair of teammates are tighter than these two — and they were the talk of the tournament after an opening 62. But a second-round 71 will put the Fitzpatricks five off the Clark and Hossler’s lead heading into the weekend.

The English pair only managed a pair of birdies, but finished with one to stay inside the top 20 on the leaderboard.

It’s still a good spot to be in, especially for Alex, who missed the cut in his only previous PGA Tour start at the 2022 Valspar Championship. So at the very least, the Wake Forest product will share a check with big brother. And considering how much Matt won last week, maybe he’ll let little bro have a bigger cut.

John Daly and David Duval probably won’t be playing together again

David Duval and John Daly. Jason Allen

At least, in this event. Golf fans were intrigued at this over-50 pairing, but it turned out to be a total disaster as the pair of major champs shot 83 on Friday to finish dead last. By a dozen shots.

Daly and Duval were playing because the Zurich has an unlimited amount of sponsor exemptions to round out the field. But while they may have drawn big crowds, we’re guessing their big numbers on the scorecard will make them a one-and-done entry.

Not that this was a surprise. Unlike. . .

A marquee pairing misses the cut

Schauffele and Cantlay may have been the pre-tournament favourites, but Collin Morikawa and Max Homa were a close second. And yet the pair of Cal Golden Bears will be hibernating this weekend.

A spectacular recovery shot by Morikawa on No. 10 set up a birdie that moved them on the cut line, but a disappointing eight pars to close kept them two shots off the number. And just one shot better than US Ryder Cup captain Zach Johnson and Steve Stricker.

If Morikawa and Homa want to partner again this fall in Rome, they better hope Johnson was too busy playing to notice.

The post Xander Schauffele-Patrick Cantlay’s record-breaking round, the Fitzpatrick brothers cool off, and a couple of childhood friends lead appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Trailing tournament leader Scottie Scheffler by one as he played the par-5 13th hole at TPC Scottsdale, Schauffele watched as his drive wandered right into a desert area, eventually coming to rest behind a palo verde tree. As TV cameras showed, Schauffele had no chance of advancing the ball forward with the tree in the way, plus, as CBS on-course announcer Mark Immelman noted, the ball was up against a root.

Seemingly, the only play would be to punch the ball out left or right and try to salvage something from there, and even that punch out would be a tricky shot.

But Immelman then relayed to viewers that Schauffele believed he would be standing in an animal hole when playing the shot. And under the Rules of Golf, a player is entitled to take relief without a penalty in such a situation if his or her ball “touches or is in or on an abnormal course condition” or if “an abnormal course condition physically interferes with the player’s area of intended stance or area of intended swing.” (Rule 16.1a)

Cameras captured what appeared to be depressions around the ball. But according to Immelman, when Schauffele made the argument to a first rules official on the scene, he was denied relief. Immelman then said that Schauffele asked to get “a second opinion” and was subsequently allowed to take a free drop.

Schauffele, now playing one club-length left of the tree, had an opening with only 200 yards to the hole. He proceeded to play a punch shot, the ball taking a nice hope in front of the green and then rolling to the back of the green, nearly 54 feet from the hole.

Perfect teamwork ? @XSchauffele and Austin Kaiser dial in an incredible recovery en route to birdie.

Xander is now one back of the lead @WMPhoenixOpen. pic.twitter.com/K3b5tAFyme

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 11, 2023

“That’s a massive break,” said CBS analyst Frank Nobilo. “It pays to know the rules that’s for sure. Take anything after that. Second shot being right that tree could be looking at five, six.”

Two putts later, Schauffele was able to write down a birdie 4 on his scorecard.

“[He] just turned six into four,” Nobilo said.

“My goodness, that is downright robbery,” Immelman added.

Despite his good fortune on the 13th hole, Schauffele struggled coming in, making bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes to finish with a one-under 70 and fall four shots back of Scheffler at day’s end.

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Fast forward to this week’s American Express, and Schauffele was still not 100 per cent but good enough to give things a go at a tournament he hasn’t played since 2017.

“It’s a little sore,” Schauffele said on Tuesday of his back. “Trying to be as patient as possible to take things as slow as possible in terms of getting too many reps in and I guess being stupid in that sense. But I’m known to try to practice too much at times. I’m trying to take this one slow so I don’t hurt it again or do something of that nature.”

Schauffele never said exactly what the problem was/is, only that he had a lot of work done on his back during the week between starts. “Obviously I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel solid.”

Sure enough, on Thursday he proved he wasn’t just putting a good spin on things, coming out and shooting an opening 65 at La Quinta Country Club to get into the mix. He subsequently followed that up with back-to-back 68s to get to 15-under, well within the cutline but eight off the lead of Davis Thompson and Jon Rahm.

To contend on Sunday, Schauffele had to get after it early at Pete Dye’s Stadium Course at PGA West, and four straight pars to start his round seemed to rule that out. But on the fifth hole, the 553-yard par 5, Schauffele pulled off something he hadn’t done in his PGA Tour career.

ALBATROSS FOR XANDER!@XSchauffele holes out from 225 yards to move to 18-under @TheAmexGolf ? pic.twitter.com/TLGu90jdIN

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 22, 2023

As the announcers note, Schauffele’s ball just barely cleared the water. We’re guessing he won’t be mentioning that to anybody when he retells the story of his 2 on this par 5 in the years to come.

“[I] didn’t say anything in the air because I was a little bit worried,” Schauffele said after the round. “So it was nice when I saw it hit on ground and then I actually saw it go in. So that was pretty special.

For the record, Schauffele said he used a 4-iron to hole the shot from 232 yards.

While this was the first albatross of Schauffele’s PGA Tour career, it’s not his first ever. Previously, Schauffele made a 2 on the par-5 13th hole at Barona Creek in San Diego … when he was only 14! As he recalled it, “3-iron from pretty similar distance … something like that.”

The last albatross by anyone on the PGA Tour came last summer in the final round of the John Deere Classic, courtesy of Stephan Jaeger.

If you expected the albatross to kick-start things for Schauffele, well you’re right, although not right away. He wound up making two more pars on the next two holes before making seven birdies on his last 11 holes to close with a 10-under 62 and secure a top-three finish.

The post Watch Xander Schauffele’s bad back feel a whole lot better after making this albatross at Amex appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The juices were flowing by this point, just like the rest of us when we have a good round going.

Could I shoot my best round ever (to this point a 63 on the PGA Tour)? Will I win this tournament? But wait, what if I screw up? Oh, please don’t mess up.

It’s only natural for such thoughts to start entering your head. The difference between a PGA Tour player like Thompson and the rest of us is that he knows the drill, and not even the allure of shooting 59 can distract him.

Career low round for Davis Thompson ?

The 23-year-old birdies the last for an opening-round 62 @TheAmExGolf. pic.twitter.com/hIbAkjzrqn

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 19, 2023

“My biggest challenge today was staying present minded and trying to put one foot in front of the other,” Thompson said after finishing his round. “Your mind definitely starts to wander a little bit. But I played enough rounds to where I try to teach myself over and over you can’t get ahead of yourself.”

Alas, a sub-60 round wasn’t to be. A couple of birdies and no bogeys on the back was good enough for merely a 10-under 62. But that was good enough for a two-shot edge on his five nearest competitors, the second time in his young career that he’s been the Day 1 leader.

Along with Thompson’s impressive start, here are three other takeaways from the first round in the California desert.

Feisty Rahm

Jon Rahm. Katelyn Mulcahy

Among those chasing Thompson is Jon Rahm, who opened with a 64 on the same course to put him, alongside Sam Burns, in the crowded pack at T-2.
Outside of Rory McIlroy, Rahm, winner two weeks ago at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, may be the best player in golf today. He’ll surely be trying to prove that this week, even if the Official World Golf Ranking seems to be conspiring against him. Rahm is one of those players best when he’s got a fire lit under him. And this week, he sounds like a man who’s been given a spark.
“Really badly,” he said in response to a question about how much he wants to capture another win here (he was the Amex champion in 2018, the second of his eight career PGA Tour wins). “What gives me more confidence is I never finished outside the top 14 in this tournament. I’ve been consistent every single time and I’ve given myself a chance.”
Let’s just call this what it is: A warning shot to the rest of the field.

Scouting Xander

Xander Schauffele. Ben Jared

It’s reasonable to says that 2023 feels like a big season for the Xander Schauffele. In 2020 and 2021, the 29-year-old California native combined for four major top-10s but zero tour wins (OK, he did grab an Olympic gold medal in that time). Then last season he won three times only to claim zero major top-10s in exchange.
Predicting what’s ahead for Schauffele would have been challenge enough before he had to WD from the Sentry Tournament of Champions two weeks ago with a back injury. He returned to play this week, posting an impressive opening-round 65 at La Quinta that hints the pain he was feeling in Hawaii might be a short-term issue.
“Yeah, it’s a little sore,” Schauffele said on Wednesday. “Trying to be as patient as possible to take things as slow as possible in terms of getting too many reps in and I guess being stupid in that sense. But I’m known to try to practise too much at times. I’m trying to take this one slow so I don’t hurt it again or do something of that nature.”
Schauffele feels like one of those players whose gift and curse is seemingly always having the potential to do more. His opening round leaves him inside the top 10 through 18 holes. His performance this week won’t define his season — far from it. But these early West Coast swing events may provide a clue for what’s ahead of Schauffele. Will this be the year he truly, and fully, ascends?

Big Toe Burmester

Dean Burmester. Meg Oliphant

Finally, a special shout-out to Dean Burmester, who joins Schauffele at T-7. Like Xander, Burmester is playing hurt, although the 33-year-old South African’s injury comes with an unusual backstory. After a routine power outage at his home, Burmester was playing the role of handyman husband — only to have it backfire.
“Our solar power kind of tripped,” he said. “I was on my way to fix it. My wife was in the shower. I was on my way trying to be the valiant knight, I was trying to be the man to the rescue. And I ran into a chair and broke my baby toe,” he says.
It’s causing him to hang back on his right foot through the ball, Burmester says, rather than transfer weight over to his lead side. He’s also not swinging as hard as he usually would. So far, however, his score doesn’t show any sign of injury.

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The seven-time PGA Tour winner first encountered back problems last month at the Hero World Challenge, where he finished fourth, but he said that he experienced no discomfort in the interim between then and his arrival on Maui. On Monday, however, the pain resurfaced and grew progressively worse, forcing him to withdraw from the pro-am on Wednesday.

“If someone told me they were going to shoot me if I didn’t finish this tournament, I would finish this tournament,” Schauffele said while sitting in the locker room next to his father Stefan. “But I really am worried about it. It happened in Bahamas, same thing is happening a month later. I don’t know what the hell it is, and I haven’t gotten a scan yet and everyone’s telling me, like, you need to chill out.

“I wanted to be stupid and kind of chug forward, but I got six people telling me to pack the hell up.”

Schauffele, 29, the sixth-ranked player in the world, was one-over for the day and two-under for the tournament when he withdrew after completing the par-3 eighth hole following a discussion with his caddie Austin Kaiser. He receives last-place unofficial earnings of $200,000 but won’t get FedEx Cup points.

The field at the $15 million “elevated” event at Kapalua is now 38 players.

“Austin told me on nine: ‘You know, we have a lot of tournaments coming up on the West Coast Swing, and it’s a big swing for us. Are you going to look back and feel like really proud of yourself for like gutting it out and maybe hurting yourself more or should we pull out and be smart here because we have, you know, a long way to go?’ So, yeah, it kind of went like that.”

Winner in Maui in 2019 when he shot a closing 11-under 62, Schauffele opened with a three-under 70 on Thursday, a respectable effort considering his limitations. Nevertheless, he was none too happy to be handicapped getting around the Plantation Course at less than 100 per cent and trailing a trio of leaders by six shots amid ideal scoring conditions that featured little wind and soft greens.

In five starts at Kapalua he has three top-five finishes.

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