Xander Schauffele knows it can only go up from here, as the PGA Tour makes it return to Europe where he had plenty of success in 2024.
Schauffele will get a chance to defend his title at The Open starting July 17 at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, but before he does that, he hopes a return to a happy place gets him back on track.
It’s been something of a lost year for the two-time major champion. After reaching the mountaintop with a pair of major championships in 2024, Schauffele has battled injury and inconsistency this season. When he tees it up at the Scottish Open, starting July 10, he’ll do so as the No. 57 player in the FedEx Cup standings.
As he looks to, um, flush an otherwise forgetful start to 2025, he’ll have plenty of inspiration at the Renaissance Club in Scotland. He just has to look in the right places.
Down in the Dumps? Xander Schauffele Has Been in a Season-Long Rut
“It was nice to see my photo out by the toilet. That was heartwarming,” Schauffele joked July 8 in a pre-tournament press conference. “Summed up how I feel about what’s going on right now. I actually chuckled when I saw that one.”
After winning the PGA Championship at Valhalla and then the Open at Royal Troon last year, Schauffele has been in a rut for just about the entire 2025 campaign. He battled a rib injury earlier in the year, and the nine-time Tour winner has just one top-10 finish this season. Even that came after he shot an opening-round 73 that kept him out of legitimate contention for the entire weekend.
Because of that, Schauffele has taken a backseat to the Tour’s big-name stars like Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy. While he’s running out of chances to use his fellow superstars as measuring sticks this season, the San Diego State product insists he’s just worried about his own scorecard.
“I really just want to play good golf. I mean, I’m pretty content with myself. … If I can just get out of my own way, that would be the thing that would make me happiest right now more than even winning a tournament. That would just be the result.”
Schauffele Has Been Consistently Inconsistent
Despite the struggles, only McIlroy and Scheffler have shorter odds to win the Scottish Open. Schauffele played arguably his best tournament of the season at Oakmont where he finished tied for 12th at the U.S. Open, gaining strokes across the board in every area of the game.
Then, he went to Hartford, and he was dreadful, losing strokes in everything — highlighted by his worst approach play number since 2020 — on his way to finishing tied for 61st in a 72-man field at the Travelers Championship.
With that sort of inconsistency, it’s hard to see Schauffele becoming the first player since Padraig Harrington in 2006 and 2007 to win the Claret Jug in back-to-back seasons. It probably shouldn’t come as much surprise then to hear Schauffele putting the emphasis on the process over the results this week.
“Right now, like I said, small victories is where I’m battling. You know, if we can move my photo away from the toilet, it would be awesome,” he joked with reporters, as transcribed by ASAP Sports. “I’m just kidding. You can leave it there for the next 10 years.
“If I can play 72 holes without fiddling with my golf swing this week, that would be a massive win, and wherever I finish, I finish. That would be a good place for me to get to before I play next week.”
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