Xander Schauffele scrambled himself into the weekend as the battled away to make the cut line and keep his fine record going on the PGA Tour.
In his first event since injury, Schauffele managed to play well enough to get to four over and in doing so, extend his cut streak to 58.
Schauffele admitted his short-game let him down for much of the second round but in the end.
However, a crucial birdie on the back nine ensured he managed to finish at one under and make it into the weekend.
Still, Schauffele is under no illusions as to how tough it is to return from injury at Bay Hill and he’s conceded that even as a two-time major winner, the course offers up some seriously tricky challenges.
Xander Schauffele names the ‘scary’ elements of Bay Hill golf course
Bay Hill is known as one of the toughest courses out on the PGA Tour and in swirling winds on the Thursday especially, it tore some players apart.
Xander Schauffele, then, has admitted that there are certain elements of the course that just don’t get any easier with time.
“There’s a few shots where you don’t get those any other time of the year,” Schauffele admitted.
“You know, hitting over a huge body of water on six, I don’t care where the wind is that’s kind of scary. 17 is kind of scary, 18 is kind of scary. You know, putting on these greens, even from three feet is kind of scary.
“So, it’s good for me, I knew it was going to be tough and I’m proud to make the weekend and I known that sounds ridiculous but I’m glad to get another two rounds in to get myself ready for some big tournaments.”
What Scottie Scheffler said is so difficult about Bay Hill
As the number one and two players in the world, both Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele are well qualified to tell us if a course is playing tough.
Indeed, prior to Schauffele’s comments here, Scheffler admitted that TV viewers had no idea just how tough things were.
“I would say one of the things that’s interesting that you may not see on TV is what is so challenging is if you’re trying to run the ball up, a lot of the fairways are really soft but the greens are like concrete so it can be really challenging to get the ball close to the hole, especially if you’re not coming from out of the fairway,” Scheffler said after round one.
“I think of the shot I hit, I drove it in the rough on maybe five, and I landed it exactly where I wanted to, and the ball just lands and just doesn’t release at all. And if I landed it another couple of yards and it lands on the green, it’s probably over the green. It’s just one of those things that you’ve got to stay patient on the golf course. It’s really hard and there’s a lot of stuff that can frustrate you out there, but just try and stay in it.”
With the winds expected to pick back up on day three, it will be interesting to see how those both in Schauffele’s position and those at the top of the leaderboard handle such a tricky proposition.
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