Xander Schauffele feeling ‘rushed’ heading into Open
Xander Schauffele feeling ‘rushed’ heading into Open. There is not a warmer player on the planet entering the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews than Xander Schauffele.
Unfortunately, Schauffele admits there may not be any more rushed players.
“To be honest, [I feel] a bit rushed,” Schauffele said Sunday evening after winning the Scottish Open at the Renaissance Club.
This was the second straight victory of Schauffele on the PGA Tour as he also won the Travelers in June 2022. He captured the two-day J.P. McManus Pro-Am in Ireland in between the two official wins.
Yet, running on fumes and having never played on the Old Course, Schauffele gears up for a chance to win his first major championship.
“A lot of homework to do,” said Schauffele.
“I have to use this time – going down at 11 o’clock at night – to my advantage to try to prepare to the best of my ability. Going to rely a lot on my caddie to do that. I am tired. I have played a bit and I need a rest, and I need to get ready for the week. I am not even thinking about Sunday quite yet. I need to prepare.”
While Schauffele feels unprepared at the moment, he still realizes that the heater he is currently on has its benefits, too. “Good golf is good golf,” he says, which may be an understatement as after analyzing his performance, it turns out that he is playing great golf – three wins (in April, he won the Zurich Classic alongside Patrick Cantlay) and nothing worse than T-18 since missing the cut at the Masters.
He was not at his best in Sunday’s final round, as he shot even-par 70, but his 65-66 performance on Friday and Saturday was impressive.
“Usually when I have more information, I feel more confident,” Schauffele said, “but at times when you do not know as much, sometimes you can use that to your advantage as well. We will see how much preparation we can do.”
Schauffele has a solid Open record, making all four of his cuts and nearly winning at Carnoustie in 2018, where he stood at the second position. He was T-26 at Royal St. George’s in 2021 and T-20 at Royal Birkdale in 2017.
“Just being on property,” Schauffele said when asked about the Old Course. “You know, I am not really one to get too excited to go to a new golf course, but I am pretty excited to go to that one. It is going to be nice to just walk on property. It would have been cool to go with no fans and then to see it with fans; I missed out on that, which I am totally fine with. But I am just excited to walk the course.”