Player Profiles
Xander SCHAUFFELE (USA)
|
Born: 25 October 1993
Birthplace: La Jolla, California, USA College: San Diego State Uuniversity Resides: San Diego, California, USA Major Wins: 0 Euro or PGA Tour Wins : 4 Other Wins: 0 Grass Preference: Bentgrass Significant Life Events: Unknown GBC Wind Performance Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ GBC Pressure Rating: ⭐ |
Profile
Xander won PGA Tour Rookie of the year in 2017 after winning twice, one of which was at the prestigious Tour Championship. He's backed up his Rookie of the year season with further victories in 2018 and 2019, taking the next step up by winning a WGC event in 2018 at the WGC HSBC Champions. He's very likely to win a Major in future.
Xander considers his mental attitude as his greatest strength and he is a fierce competitor. He tends to go somewhat under the radar compared to some other players and states that his friends often call him "grandpa" owing to his maturity beyond his years. His dad is is lifelong swing and mental coach.
Xander has a terrific record at East Lake and can always be supported for the Tour Championship.
Significant Info To Be Aware Of
Nothing at this time.
Stats Analysis
Long Game - Xander is well above average in Driving Distance and he ranks pretty solidly for SG: Approach the green. His driving accuracy stats aren't great and this is one area which he seek to improve as he searches for his first Major.
Short Game - Xander is quoted in interviews as thinking he was a bad putter in college but he no longer considers himself to be bad. He Ranked 46th for SG: Putting and 40th for SG: Around the greens in 2019.
Round Scoring Average - Highest 12th for round 3 scoring average.
Par Scoring Average - Ranks 8th and 6th for Par 4 and 5 scoring respectively.
Trends
Avoid when playing here - Xander doesn't have a great record at the events held in Texas. In 2019 he missed the cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge in his only season appearance in Texas. In 2018, he missed the cut at the Valero Texas Open and finished 73rd at the Fort Worth Invitational. In 2017 he missed the cut at both the Valero Texas Open and the AT&T Byron Nelson. However, he bucked this trend in 2020 when he finished 3rd at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Favourite Tournament - Xander's record at the Tour Championship is incredible. He's posted the lowest and second lowest 72 hole scores there in 2019 and 2020.
Major & WGC Analysis
Major's - Xander has the game to win any of golfs Major Championships. Coming into 2021 he has played 14 Majors to date and has already posted three top 3 finishes in The Open Championship, US Open and The Masters. Even at the US PGA Championship he has a top 10 already under his belt.
So far, Xander has shown a particular affinity with the US Open, having posted four consecutive top 6 finishes in his first four appearances in the competition!
Xander held the joint lead going into the final round at the 2018 Open Championship but finished with a 74 to throw away any chance he had. That Sunday was a different test to the previous three days weather wise but only Jordan Spieth posted a worse score that day out of any player in the top 25. It takes time to master links golf however and there's no reason to think Xander cannot in future.
WGC's - In 2020, he finished 6th in St Jude and 14th in Mexico. He was a winner of the HSBC Champions in 2018 and 2nd there in 2019. He will fancy his chances when it returns in 2021.
Pressure Performance Rating
February 2020 - Began the final round of the Phoenix Open joint leader with Jordan Spieth. Shot 71 (previous worst score 66) to finish 1 shot behind Koepka including finding the water in 17. A very poor performance.
June 2020 - Xander entered the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge with a one shot lead. Performed really poorly over the final four holes when he was joint leader as he put the ball in the water from his second shot at the 15th and then missed a 3ft par putt on the 17th hole.
January 2020 - Xander failed to convert a 1 shot lead at the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions, having been odds on favourite when reaching the final green in two shots. However, he three putted (he missed the birdie putt from six feet) to slip into a playoff and then three putted the first playoff hole.
August 2019 - Xander was joint leader at The Tour Championship with 18 holes to go but shot his worst score of the week (70) and lost out by 3 to Rory McIlroy.
January 2019 - At the Sentry Tournament of Champions he shot a blistering final round of 62 (joint course record) to overcome a 5 shot deficit entering the final round.
October 2018 - Shot the lowest score of the day (68) at the WGC HSBC Champions after being 3 shots back going into the final round to get into a playoff with Tony Finau. Won the playoff with a birdie at the first extra hole.
September 2018 - Held the 36 hole lead at the BMW Championship. Shot 67-67 over the weekend to lose out by 1 shot. Entered the final round 1 shot behind, his score of 67 was an average score for the day.
July 2018 - Held the joint lead after 3 rounds at the 2018 Open Championship. Shot a disappointing 74 to slip to 2nd.
Summary - There is no doubt that Xander is an extremely talented golfer who is capable of winning Majors in future. However, all 4 of Xander's wins to date have come when he began the final round trailing the leader by at least 2 shots. He's excellent at coming from off the pace but on the four occasions he's led or been joint leader with a round to go he has failed to convert. . His Golf Betting Club Pressure Performance Rating is set to 1 stars for the time being.
Playoff Record
1-2. Xander won his first playoff, defeating Tony Finau to win the WGC HSBC Champions event in 2018. However, he has lost his subsequent two playoffs to Rory McIlroy (2019 WGC HSBC Champions) and Justin Thomas at the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Significant Quotes
2017 US Open
Q. Is there something about the course that you especially like or something in your game that you like? Why are you here do you think?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I've been driving the ball really well. This is obviously a driver's course. You've got to be in the fairway to attack any of the pins. This course, honestly reminded me a little bit of home. I went to San Diego State and one of our home courses is Barona Creek. It's bentgrass greens, and it's kind of this open, no-tree look. I won a PGA event there my senior year. Last night I was telling my caddie, I really feel like we're playing Barona right now. The greens are marked up, but it's exactly what I grew up playing on. So I felt really comfortable.
Xander won PGA Tour Rookie of the year in 2017 after winning twice, one of which was at the prestigious Tour Championship. He's backed up his Rookie of the year season with further victories in 2018 and 2019, taking the next step up by winning a WGC event in 2018 at the WGC HSBC Champions. He's very likely to win a Major in future.
Xander considers his mental attitude as his greatest strength and he is a fierce competitor. He tends to go somewhat under the radar compared to some other players and states that his friends often call him "grandpa" owing to his maturity beyond his years. His dad is is lifelong swing and mental coach.
Xander has a terrific record at East Lake and can always be supported for the Tour Championship.
Significant Info To Be Aware Of
Nothing at this time.
Stats Analysis
Long Game - Xander is well above average in Driving Distance and he ranks pretty solidly for SG: Approach the green. His driving accuracy stats aren't great and this is one area which he seek to improve as he searches for his first Major.
Short Game - Xander is quoted in interviews as thinking he was a bad putter in college but he no longer considers himself to be bad. He Ranked 46th for SG: Putting and 40th for SG: Around the greens in 2019.
Round Scoring Average - Highest 12th for round 3 scoring average.
Par Scoring Average - Ranks 8th and 6th for Par 4 and 5 scoring respectively.
Trends
Avoid when playing here - Xander doesn't have a great record at the events held in Texas. In 2019 he missed the cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge in his only season appearance in Texas. In 2018, he missed the cut at the Valero Texas Open and finished 73rd at the Fort Worth Invitational. In 2017 he missed the cut at both the Valero Texas Open and the AT&T Byron Nelson. However, he bucked this trend in 2020 when he finished 3rd at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
Favourite Tournament - Xander's record at the Tour Championship is incredible. He's posted the lowest and second lowest 72 hole scores there in 2019 and 2020.
Major & WGC Analysis
Major's - Xander has the game to win any of golfs Major Championships. Coming into 2021 he has played 14 Majors to date and has already posted three top 3 finishes in The Open Championship, US Open and The Masters. Even at the US PGA Championship he has a top 10 already under his belt.
So far, Xander has shown a particular affinity with the US Open, having posted four consecutive top 6 finishes in his first four appearances in the competition!
Xander held the joint lead going into the final round at the 2018 Open Championship but finished with a 74 to throw away any chance he had. That Sunday was a different test to the previous three days weather wise but only Jordan Spieth posted a worse score that day out of any player in the top 25. It takes time to master links golf however and there's no reason to think Xander cannot in future.
WGC's - In 2020, he finished 6th in St Jude and 14th in Mexico. He was a winner of the HSBC Champions in 2018 and 2nd there in 2019. He will fancy his chances when it returns in 2021.
Pressure Performance Rating
February 2020 - Began the final round of the Phoenix Open joint leader with Jordan Spieth. Shot 71 (previous worst score 66) to finish 1 shot behind Koepka including finding the water in 17. A very poor performance.
June 2020 - Xander entered the final round of the Charles Schwab Challenge with a one shot lead. Performed really poorly over the final four holes when he was joint leader as he put the ball in the water from his second shot at the 15th and then missed a 3ft par putt on the 17th hole.
January 2020 - Xander failed to convert a 1 shot lead at the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions, having been odds on favourite when reaching the final green in two shots. However, he three putted (he missed the birdie putt from six feet) to slip into a playoff and then three putted the first playoff hole.
August 2019 - Xander was joint leader at The Tour Championship with 18 holes to go but shot his worst score of the week (70) and lost out by 3 to Rory McIlroy.
January 2019 - At the Sentry Tournament of Champions he shot a blistering final round of 62 (joint course record) to overcome a 5 shot deficit entering the final round.
October 2018 - Shot the lowest score of the day (68) at the WGC HSBC Champions after being 3 shots back going into the final round to get into a playoff with Tony Finau. Won the playoff with a birdie at the first extra hole.
September 2018 - Held the 36 hole lead at the BMW Championship. Shot 67-67 over the weekend to lose out by 1 shot. Entered the final round 1 shot behind, his score of 67 was an average score for the day.
July 2018 - Held the joint lead after 3 rounds at the 2018 Open Championship. Shot a disappointing 74 to slip to 2nd.
Summary - There is no doubt that Xander is an extremely talented golfer who is capable of winning Majors in future. However, all 4 of Xander's wins to date have come when he began the final round trailing the leader by at least 2 shots. He's excellent at coming from off the pace but on the four occasions he's led or been joint leader with a round to go he has failed to convert. . His Golf Betting Club Pressure Performance Rating is set to 1 stars for the time being.
Playoff Record
1-2. Xander won his first playoff, defeating Tony Finau to win the WGC HSBC Champions event in 2018. However, he has lost his subsequent two playoffs to Rory McIlroy (2019 WGC HSBC Champions) and Justin Thomas at the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Significant Quotes
2017 US Open
Q. Is there something about the course that you especially like or something in your game that you like? Why are you here do you think?
XANDER SCHAUFFELE: Yeah, I've been driving the ball really well. This is obviously a driver's course. You've got to be in the fairway to attack any of the pins. This course, honestly reminded me a little bit of home. I went to San Diego State and one of our home courses is Barona Creek. It's bentgrass greens, and it's kind of this open, no-tree look. I won a PGA event there my senior year. Last night I was telling my caddie, I really feel like we're playing Barona right now. The greens are marked up, but it's exactly what I grew up playing on. So I felt really comfortable.
