Xander Schauffele’s ‘Idiot’ Move & Tiger Woods’s Grand Escape: PGA Tour’s Two Extreme Attempts Explored
In rare cases, you would find Xander Schauffele making a quadruple bogey, but that happened during the opening round of the ZOZO Championship. At the par-4 ninth hole, the 2-time major winner’s tee shot ended up in the rough near the roots of a tree. Schauffele tried to move the ball two times, but he failed and eventually took an unplayable. This ended up giving him a quadruple bogey on the par-4.
Talking about his rationale behind the first two shots, Schauffele accepted that he thought he could do anything, which got the better of him. He said, “I should have just taken an unplayable, but I was an idiot and tried to hit it. Then I was stubborn and then tried to hit it again, then finally took an unplayable,” before wanting to hit it for the third time, which he thankfully didn’t. Although he failed in his purpose, from the looks of it, it seems that the 30-year-old pro was trying to replicate Tiger Woods’s rough shot from the Valspar Championship.
Just like Schauffele, in the opening round of the Valspar Championship in 2018, Woods’s ball was stuck near a tree on the rough after the tee shot. At the par-4 16th hole, the 82-time PGA Tour winner got one shot at the ball and directly landed it near the green side bunker. From there, he made a 66-foot approach shot on the green. And eventually, chip and made the even-par putt. It was a great escape by the 48-year-old pro which Schauffele probably thought to resemble, but not everyone can be Tiger Woods.
And just like that, Schauffele ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard, positioned T70 with 3 over 70 scorelines. While he called himself an idiot, Schaufelle also attributed his grave mistake to his “overconfidence” and it came back to bite his good even par score. So, even though he blamed his behavior for the mishap, there was another huge reason why Schauffele just didn’t get to the top of the leaderboard.
Being away from golf cost Xander Schauffele his first-round
The last time Xander Schauffele played an individual stroke play event, was in September. After that, the 2-time major represented the USA at the Presidents Cup at the Royal Montreal Golf Club. And since then, he has taken a break of more than a month.
In this period, Schauffele probably spent time with his family and did not heed the game of golf. He said, “I didn’t feel like I hit it really good or really bad. I’ve only played the Presidents Cup and… that was it, played the Presidents Cup since Eastlake, so I haven’t played a ton of golf.” Thus, his mostly par, one birdie, and one quadruple bogey were also because of the rust he had accumulated from being out of practice.
In the upcoming rounds, Schauffele was a bit confident to shoot a low score and was not “pissed” about the mistake much. He was hopeful to enter the winner’s circle for his third victory of the year. Will he make a comeback and conquer the next three days of the ZOZO Championship? It remains to be seen.
