Xander Schauffele is set to go into the PGA Championship as the somewhat forgotten man, with many of his rivals in great form heading to Quail Hollow.
It has been a remarkable 12 months for Xander Schauffele. He emerged from last year’s Wells Fargo Championship with questions being asked about his ability to get across the line after being beaten by Rory McIlroy at Quail Hollow.
However, those doubts would be put to bed in emphatic fashion. Schauffele won the PGA Championship the following week, with The Open Championship also coming later in the year.
Heading into 2025, it appeared entirely possible that Schauffele would move closer to completing the career grand slam – particularly as his records at The Masters and the US Open were arguably better. However, a rib injury saw the world number three miss a significant chunk of the early season.
The one concern for Xander Schauffele heading into the PGA Championship
It appears that Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau and Justin Thomas all now have a lot more momentum than Schauffele.
His results have improved in recent weeks, with four top 20s in a row – including a tied eighth finish at Augusta National. With that, it would be foolish to think that he could not go on and retain his title this week.
Speaking on The Smylie Show, Smylie Kaufman suggested that he has one worry about Schauffele, and it stems from the fact that he is still finding his best form again.
“He just has to have everything come together, I think it’s simple as that. The results, good to see that he’s working his way near the top 10 in the leaderboard. We have talked about his putting this year and how that’s been down. But he gained one stroke on the green this week, which I think is a positive step. He’s had four weeks in a row where he’s finally in the positive with the putter. We knew that was eventually going to come back to the middle ground, to where he’s an upper-echelon putter on the PGA Tour, one of the elite putters,” he said.
“The iron game’s been really good this year. The distance off the tee, 20 yards compared to the field average, that’s how much he was gaining as far as distance in yards goes last week at the Truist. So all the things that we just said, he’s going to drive it far enough at Quail, he’s going to have a distinct advantage there, the iron game’s been really good at points this season, around the green of course he’s always been pretty solid there, putter’s been down, but it’s been up. So really, the only concern that you have coming into the week is can he put 72 holes together? I think you feel really good that he’ll give you 60. Those 12 holes, will he be able to salvage the momentum in major championships that you have to have?”
How Xander Schauffele has performed at Quail Hollow during his career
Schauffele has a good record at Quail Hollow, having finished second on two occasions in the past. He also won three points from four matches during the 2022 Presidents Cup at the North Carolina course.
But his statistics this year suggest that he simply has to be placed below the likes of McIlroy, Scheffler and DeChambeau in the running.
Schauffele performed well in every category in 2024. This year however, he is outside the top 100 on the PGA Tour in three strokes gained categories.
| Strokes gained category | Xander Schauffele’s PGA Tour rank (2025) |
| Off the tee | 157th |
| Tee to green | 57th |
| Approach | 7th |
| Around the green | 134th |
| Putting | 139th |
| Total | 86th |
Expecting him to be able to turn it on this week is going to be a huge ask when so many of his rivals appear to be playing so well at the same time.
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