Smylie Kaufman names the major-winning golfer who is being ‘slept on’ and could win the PGA Championship, he is a better putter than Scottie Scheffler

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The PGA Championship at Quail Hollow is next week, and golf pundits are already starting to share their predictions.

Scottie Scheffler will enter the second major championship of the season on the back of an emphatic victory at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson.

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy has already won The Masters and two other signature PGA Tour events this season and has an excellent record at Quail Hollow.

These two the clearly the favorites heading into the PGA Championship, but that means several other world-class golfers are being overlooked.

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Smylie Kaufman names leading PGA Championship contender

Xander Schauffele is arguably the third best player in the world, having won the PGA Championship and Open Championship in 2024, yet he’s being “slept on” at the moment.

That’s because he suffered a rib injury in the offseason which stopped him from preparing for 2025 as he would’ve liked.

It’s taken him a while to return to form, but there’s no reason why he can’t retain his title at Quail Hollow next week, as Kaufman points out.

“I think he could repeat,” he said. “I really do. I think Xander Schauffele is 100% going to be slept on coming into this week. The reasons why, when you go and look at his stats this year, you’ll see the putter has been very poor for him.

“I think of any of the players that you’re going to name, I would say Xander Schauffele, statistically, if we go back to last season, is clearly the best putter of all the best players in the world. I would take Xander over any of them.

“And this year, the putter has been off. I don’t foresee that continuing. That, to me, seems like something totally fixable. I don’t know whether it’s technique, speed, not playing enough golf, or not being in rhythm. Whatever that might be, I see it being fixed.

“He’s obviously had success here. What I love to see is that his iron game is really, really good. We’ve seen that tick up over the last three or four weeks that he’s played. Obviously, when you start your season at Bay Hill, that’s going to be a really tough start to find your rhythm.

“His driver has been off here and there. It’s not that he’s driven it poorly, it’s that there have been two or three a round that he wasn’t quite looking for. When you go to a golf course that has some space, of course, there’s going to be some rough to deal with, but I love Xander Schauffele’s chances.”

Xander Schauffele’s PGA Tour results in 2025 season

Schauffele hasn’t missed a cut in 2025, highlighting that he’s only underachieved by his lofty standards rather than the PGA Tour average.

However, there were some concerns about his game after finishing 72nd with a score of +13 at the Players Championship.

But, since then, the 31-year-old has played well at the Valspar Championship and RBC Heritage, and finished in the top 10 at The Masters.

Provided he has a decent performance at the Truist Championship in Philadelphia, Kaufman probably won’t be the only one singing Schauffele’s praises before the PGA Championship.