It's been a slow summer for Xander Schauffele. And although he fared well at the majors, that is hardly the same as winning them.
Two years removed from collecting the PGA Championship and Open Championship in the same season, Schauffele has not quite captured that same level of play.
Schauffele sits 15th in the FedEx Cup standings as he prepares for his tournament debut at the Rocket Classic this week at Detroit Golf Club. Asked Tuesday what he is liking about his game this summer, he answered with
unflinching honesty.
"I mean, not too many things right now," Schauffele said. "Not to be negative, but just it's been a work in progress I think for the last couple years. Obviously had a big year in ‘24 and sort of set a new standard in my mind of sort of what I'm capable of doing. So when I unfortunately compare to that -- which is not a really fair thing to do at times -- I fall pretty short.
"So been working hard with the whole team to not redo that year but sort of get back to a play style and sort of golf that I can -- I know I can play similar to that year."
Schauffele has yet to win a tournament this season and hasn't had a top-10 finish since May, though he garnered top-10s at the Masters and PGA Championship, a T11 at the U.S. Open and a T18 at the Open Championship.
After missing the cut at the Scottish Open, just his second missed cut of 2026, Schauffele barely made the cut at The Open at even par through two rounds. A third-round 66 helped boost his finish, but the 32-year-old is more concerned with his game than the results.
Schauffele ranks a mere 58th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained on approach and 52nd in strokes gained putting, a far cry from where he stacked up two years ago.
"Yeah, it's been a bit tricky for me in general with my game," he said. "A little too technical, a little too much golf swing. I decided to play 18 holes today to try and not sit on the range and, you know, hit in the crosswind. Figure it's a good day to see the course."
In other words, better for Schauffele to play competitive rounds than to tinker and overthink.
He has yet to play the Rocket Classic, introduced in 2019, due in part to where it fell on the calendar. But with three weeks between the final major of the year and the FedEx Cup playoff opener, Schauffele knew he should play one of those regular-season events.
"We have the playoffs coming up and, in all honesty, I didn't really want to have three weeks off going into the FedEx Cup playoffs," Schauffele said. "So it fit really nice in the schedule, better than it ever has for my personal schedule. I'm pumped to be here and try to get some good momentum going into the postseason."
--Field Level Media
