In his brief but impressive career on the PGA Tour, Xander Schauffele has made a habit of playing well in big events. A victory at the Tour Championship his rookie year. Two top-10 finishes in two US Open starts. A runner-up at the Open Championship. Runner-up at the Players. A win at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
And on Sunday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Schauffele seemed to be doing it again. Despite a bogey on his first hole at the Plantation Course at Kapalua, the 25-year-old proceeded to go eight-under over a 10-hole stretch to leap into contention with 54-hole leader Gary Woodland, turning the final-round into a two-player race.
But didn’t have it all his own way. Case in point: this tee shot in the 13th hole.
-8 thru his last 10 holes.
2 eagles on his round.
1 shot behind the leader.Just when everything is going your way …
Golf is hard. #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/6bFGrlCWls
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 7, 2019
To call it a cold top would be an exaggeration, but only a mild one. You can see that the highest the ball got off the ground was 31 feet. The ball did manage to go 241 yards, but that’s probably the shortest he’s hit his driver all week. Seriously, for somebody playing as hot as he was, the shot seemed to come way, way out of nowhere.
If he goes on to win the tournament, Schauffele will no doubt laugh at this. And if he doesn’t win, well he might still laugh at it considering how incredible he had been playing.
