Xander Schauffele led the PGA Tour in bogey avoidance this previous season.
However Thursday on the Zozo Championship, he admittedly bought a bit cussed.
After his tee shot nestled close to a tree on the ninth gap, the world No. 2 compounded the error by taking two swipes within the span of 5 seconds, barely advancing the ball earlier than he finally determined to take an unplayable lie. He walked off with a quadruple-bogey 8, his solely dropped pictures throughout a gap spherical of 3-over 73 that matched his highest rating on Tour since June.
Schauffele is tied for 70th within the restricted subject of 78 gamers.
“If it was Sunday, I’d be pissed,” he stated afterward. “Right this moment, I’m simply making an attempt to brush it off. I’ve bought three extra days in entrance of me.”
Schauffele had made eight straight pars earlier than his travails on the ninth. Approaching his ball, he stated the lie was so poor, sitting in a “crevasse,” that he even considered taking an image to snicker about it later. He believed, at worst, that his shot would simply ricochet off the tree in entrance of him.
“For me to assume I may do something positively bought me in a gap there,” he stated. “I ought to have simply taken an unplayable, however I used to be an fool and tried to hit it.”
Not as soon as, however twice – all in a matter of only a few seconds.
“Then I used to be cussed and tried to hit it once more,” he stated. “I used to be going to hit it a 3rd time too, simply because, however yeah – it was a foul spot.”
Schauffele, universally praised by his friends for his steadiness between the ropes, stated it’d in all probability been over a yr since he “had a meltdown like that.” He nonetheless laughed it off within the second.
“Only a mixture of being overconfident and being actually cussed,” he stated. “Typically it pays off for me in tournaments. And right now, it bit me within the ass.”
