Xander Schauffele responds when asked if he thinks he has any chance of catching Scottie Scheffler and winning The Open

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Xander Schauffele posted an extremely impressive round of five-under par 66 on day three of The Open Championship.

Schauffele has really struggled to find his best form all season long, after suffering an injury right at the start of 2025.

Interestingly, Scottie Scheffler returned from an injury early on in 2025 as well, but the world number one has rediscovered his best form far quicker than Schauffele.

However, the 2024 champion golfer of the year showed glimpses of his old self on Saturday at Royal Portrush.

Schauffele has admitted that his putting hasn’t been good enough at The Open, but he rolled his rock a lot better during round three.

The 31-year-old is right up there with the very best players in the world when he’s on his game.

However, does he have what it takes to overturn a huge deficit and catch Scheffler on Sunday at Portrush?

Xander Schauffele says if he can catch Scottie Scheffler and win The Open

Schauffele, a two-time major champion, made a real charge at The Open on Saturday.

However, he’s still a long way back from the world number one right now.

The American spoke to reporters after his round, and responded when asked if he believes he is now back in contention at Royal Portrush.

He said: “Not really. I probably needed — I missed two short birdie putts, which I’m looking at. Asking for par on 4 was a big ask. I gave myself like a 14-footer uphill. If I’m nitpicking my whole deal, I needed three more today to feel like I’m somewhere close enough to whatever Scott or Fitzpatrick or Haotong are going to post.“

He was then asked whether he is a leaderboard watcher, and if he reacts to what he sees.

Schauffele responded: “I don’t react, but today I was. I just felt like there’s no point in not. I need to find any bit of — not that I’m not motivated, but any extra motivation I can to giddy up and try to get something done. There’s a few guys that are playing some incredible golf.“

So how does he motivate himself as a golfer?

Schauffele said: “I’m so far back, who knows with the weather and whatnot. I believe in myself and what I can do. So just blackout hopefully. No luck boxing, blackout, there’s your headline, and try to shoot something and give myself a lot of opportunities.“

Xander Schauffele’s Open stats

The American hasn’t been at his best, but he still put in an extremely solid showing this week.

Here are his stats from the week at Portrush so far:

The challenge now for Schauffele will be to close out The Open Championship with one more good round and then really kick on from there.

He is clearly very close, and it should surprise no one if he finishes the season really strongly now.