As a former winner of the Genesis Scottish Open and the reigning Champion Golfer of the Year after his impressive display at Royal Troon last year, Xander Schauffele is looking forward to embracing the unique challenges presented by links golf as he prepares to defend his Open Championship crown and continues to search for the form that propelled him to number two in the world rankings.
“Yeah, it definitely is,” he responded when asked if playing in Scotland the week before the Open was crucial to his Open Championship preparation. “It’s important for me to get acclimated to the time. Important to get used to the grass, the way the ball [is] rolling, all those good things. It’s definitely become a staple in my schedule.
“I think it’s massive across the board. Just hard to replicate any sort of tournament feel back home in the States where you can hit an iron, the same club, a difference of 50 to 60 yards just based on how you hit it or what kind of wind you get.
“There’s only one way to get that done, and it’s coming over here. And whether it’s hitting drivers in crosswinds or getting used to a different bounce with your wedge or trying to hit it over those big lips that you guys have over here, it’s a lot of fun to prepare that way.”
Schauffele’s early season was hampered by a back injury and he’s struggled to regain the form which saw him win two of the four major championships in 2024.
But despite his struggles, he continues to keep the faith.
“I’d say the belief is good,” he said. “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.
“So I’m definitely looking forward to — I feel like I haven’t tried to add on too many other events, and I’ve tried to just play to an incredible — 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 just 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.”
“First time I’ve been hurt,” he added. “Didn’t know what to expect coming back and my mind and the way I was playing golf, I would just look at the target and hit at the target. Didn’t really match up coming back at the beginning of the year, and it’s still a work in progress. But I’ve been spoiled to play at a pretty high level for quite some time. This has been a fun experience to try to get back on the horse.”
He admitted that he was guilty of trying to downplay the impact of the injury so as not to be seen to be eliciting sympathy and of not fully appreciating the impact that it was going to have on his game.
“Yeah, both, probably,” he responded. “I try to not make a big deal out of it. Learning from it as much as possible, more from an expectation standpoint. Yeah, probably downplayed it in my own mind. Yeah, you’ll be fine, you’ve been playing great golf; you just came off the best year of your career. And I’ve backed it up currently with the worst year of my career. It’s been a hot one.
“Like I said, I’m trying to do the best I can.”
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