KAPALUA, Hawaii — Successful two majors solely made Xander Schauffele that rather more looking forward to the subsequent one. The one downer about profitable the claret jug at Royal Troon was figuring out it might be greater than eight months till the subsequent one.
Additionally on his agenda is reaching No. 1 on the planet.
Which may take slightly longer.
The PGA Tour embarks on a brand new season with out Scottie Scheffler, who minimize open his proper hand on damaged glass getting ready Christmas dinner. Even with out the No. 1 participant at The Sentry, Schauffele eels quite a bit additional away than his No. 2 rating would possibly counsel.
“It’s a wild time,” Schauffele mentioned. “Successful two majors and being nearer to the Thirtieth-ranked participant than the primary … hat’s off to Scottie. He’s a beast.”
Schauffele, after all, isn’t any slouch. Each put collectively a season of outstanding consistency. Schauffele had 15 finishes within the high 10 out of his 21 begins in particular person play on the PGA Tour. From Might till the tip of the season, he went 11 straight occasions no worse than fifteenth.
That included a birdie on the final gap to win the PGA Championship at Valhalla, and a command efficiency within the rain and wind of Royal Troon to win The Open.
It was the latter that acquired the eye of Chris Kirk, the defending champion at Kapalua.
“You can’t precisely describe how horrible it’s to play golf in these circumstances,” Kirk mentioned. “That was one the place — clearly, I’ve a whole lot of confidence in myself, I imagine in my recreation, I’m a top-50 participant — I watched that and was like, ‘There’s no means in hell I may try this.’”
The distinction in seasons was Scheffler transformed extra of these top-10s into titles — seven on the PGA Tour, Olympic gold, and the Hero World Problem within the Bahamas, all of them boosting his lead at No. 1 to the biggest hole since Tiger Woods in his peak years.
“It’s one among my targets that can simply have to remain on the calendar for a number of extra years,” Schauffele mentioned with a straightforward smile. “If I get there I’ll be very blissful. However simply primarily based on trying on the numbers, yeah, it’s going to take a while and endurance.”
Now he’s on island time, the place nobody is in a rush.
Tee occasions and groupings for the opening spherical of The Sentry match at Kapalua.
The 60-man area will get began on the mountainous Plantation Course at Kapalua, which is taking part in longer than ever with a gradual dose of in a single day rain.
The Sentry additionally begins a brand new construction on the PGA Tour wherein solely the highest 100 gamers within the FedExCup hold their full playing cards, and the dimensions of fields is shrinking to verify those that have playing cards get into extra tournaments.
That is the second yr {that a} match as soon as restricted to solely winners has been expanded to incorporate anybody who completed within the high 50 within the FedExCup. Of the 60 gamers, 29 of them didn’t win a match final yr.
That features Justin Thomas, who no less than would look like on the upward pattern. He missed out on the postseason in 2023 and made it again to the Tour Championship. It was a greater yr, however not sufficient for him to be picked for the Presidents Cup.
Think about that to be a giant motivator this yr with a Ryder Cup on the horizon. Step one is profitable, which Thomas hasn’t carried out because the PGA Championship in 2022. Earlier than that, he piled up 15 wins on the PGA Tour in a seven-year stretch.
“I actually felt like I used to be going to win a number of occasions each season just about, till I misplaced it slightly bit,” Thomas mentioned. “It’s simply so exhausting to win out right here. Naturally, the higher participant that you’re, you may get away with extra errors, however come the tip of the week on Sunday, you need to win the golf match.
“I used to be lucky the place I used to be doing it very often and I nonetheless really feel like I’m totally succesful and anticipate to do this extra,” he mentioned. “However I positively felt prefer it ought to have occurred usually.”
Schauffele can admire the sensation. He additionally had gone two years with out profitable till he ended that drought in one of the best ways potential — not one main, however two.
It begins with probabilities, and that has change into his hallmark, very similar to it’s for Scheffler. Schauffele comes into Kapalua with the longest energetic minimize streak on the PGA Tour at 56 in a row, which can improve as a result of there isn’t any minimize this week.
The file is 142 in a row by Woods. That is perhaps even additional away than his purpose of changing Scheffler at No. 1 on the planet.
