Xander Schauffele suffered an injury earlier this year – one that kept him away from PGA Tour action for around two months.
Schauffele returned to competitive golf at The Arnold Palmer Invitational in early March, and made a slow start to life back on the PGA Tour.
However, there are signs that he is close to rediscovering his best form, with three consecutive top-20 finishes to his name.
Justin Thomas gave Schauffele credit after his win at the RBC Heritage last week, after the Californian helped him with his putting.
Now it may well be time for Thomas to return the favour.
The 31-year-old reigning PGA and Open champion seems to be suffering with somewhat of a crisis in confidence right now.
Xander Schauffele admits the problem he’s been suffering with since returning to the PGA Tour from injury
The American is ranked as No.3 in the world right now.
We all know that he’s capable of winning every single time he tees it up – he just hasn’t put everything together in the same week in 2025 yet.
Schauffele is ranked 160th in scrambling this season – a statistical category where he finished first in 2024.
So it’s obvious to see that he has regressed in that department. However, there may be another reason behind his recent struggles.
When speaking to reporters during a PGA Championship media day at Quail Hollow on Monday, Schauffele revealed one of the reasons why he has struggled this season:
“I’m trying to sort of piggyback my rounds, or mainly my confidence, I’d say, coming back off of injury. I’ve been trying to just pick up the pace as much as possible. There’s probably been a little bit of anxiety in terms of playing at a high enough level to win. Feeling like a lot of guys are sort of passing me by.
“Just trying to, yeah, like you said, sort of since the Players, Masters was pretty solid. I felt like I played well last week. Felt like I played better than I finished. Kind of just how golf goes.
“When you’re not sharp enough, you kind of do that. Instead of giving yourself a better look at a Sunday, you kind of finish middle of the pack, and you kind of feel, you know, kind of “ugh” about the week. So overall, I think my confidence is slowing building, and I’m trying to allow that to happen versus sort of looking back at what I could have done better.
“I’m excited. I am excited for the next stretch. I have played well at Quail Hollow. I think it fits my eye, and for whatever reason, I’ve been up at the top of the leaderboard for last two years. So I don’t see why this year should be an issue.”
The anxiety he’s feeling about being overtaken by his rivals will surely not last for long.
It’s only a matter of time before Schauffele starts winning again.
Schauffele makes admission about Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler
Schauffele didn’t like watching McIlroy and Scheffler playing one little bit whilst he was out injured.
It’s easy to see why it would have been incredibly frustrating for him watching both of his main rivals enjoy success whilst he recovered from his injury.
However, Schauffele put a twist on it by saying it actually motivated him:
“Just motivating. Yeah, like I said, there’s so many guys that have played at a really high level, and luckily I’ve learned that I can play at that level,” Schauffele admitted.
“More motivating than anything else. They’ve been playing incredible golf. Rory has been playing unbelievably well this year with a couple wins already and kind of breezing through what looks like hard golf courses. And it’s just what happens when you’re a really good player and you put things together. That’s sort of what happens. Luckily I was able to do that last year, and there’s no reason I can’t do it again.”
Time will tell whether Schauffele is capable of winning big events again this season, but it would surprise nobody if he ended 2025 with another major championship safely tucked away.
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