Xander Schauffele moved himself right back into contention at the BMW Championship with the second lowest round of the day on Saturday at Castle Pines.
Xander Schauffele is well aware that he needs to win this week to stand any chance of going into The Tour Championship with a two-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler. And after two days, it appeared that the two-time major champion’s hopes of victory this week had been dashed.
Certainly, it appeared that the 30-year-old’s tournament was over when he teed off on seven at two over par for the day in Colorado. He made a double bogey on the third and then a further bogey came on the sixth.
Remarkably, The Open champion would then play the final 12 holes in seven under par to move himself into the top five – five shots back of Keegan Bradley.
Xander Schauffele left embarrassed by one shot at BMW Championship
It seems that Schauffele felt that he had a point to prove after the first few holes in his third round, with Schauffele admitting that finding the water on the third was a real low point for him.
“Yesterday I kind of got a little mixed up and was a little bit out of sorts. Today was a little weird, too, starting out. I kind of got gusted, I think, on 3. I hit an 8-iron that literally went – I got like 25 yards of hurt, which we haven’t had all week,” he said.
“I kind of was posing, and it was a little embarrassing for that thing to hit the wall and go in the water 20 yards off. Then hit a flagstick a hole later. Felt like I had to dig deep in my little patience bucket that’s running thin this late in the year on a Saturday.
“But lucky to sort of turn it around and hit some good shots coming in.”
The name to look out for on Sunday
Justin Thomas noted the biggest challenge this week would be working out distances in the altitude, and that perhaps appears to have been one moment where Schauffele got his calculations wrong.
But the way he bounced back shows why he is one of the world’s best right now. Clearly, it was easier for some than others, with Scottie Scheffler really losing his cool at one stage.
Justin Rose noted that Schauffele’s mindset is one of the most underrated parts of his game after he won at Royal Troon, and that arguably came to the fore on Saturday at Castle Pines.
And if he can get off to a fast start on Sunday, he is surely going to be the player many on the leaderboard are looking out for.
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