Xander Schauffele had the look of a winner all day today at Colonial Country Club. He was playing steady golf and making a good number of lengthy putts as he anchored himself near the top of the leaderboard at the Charles Schwab Challenge. And the short putts, well, the four-time PGA Tour champ was money on those. According to 15th Club stat guru Justin Ray, Schauffele was 51-for-51 on the week from putts inside five feet after 70 holes of play.
And that’s why what happened on the par-4 17th hole, the 71st hole of the PGA Tour’s return to golf, deserves a viewer’s discretion label. Schauffele had less than three feet for par to remain at 15-under, tied for the lead with Daniel Berger and Collin Morikawa. Put the 4 on the board and get the man to the 18th tee.
Except…
Unbelievable.
Co-leader Xander Schauffele's ball lips out on the 17th hole.
He makes bogey to fall 1 back with 1 to play.
Golf is heartbreaking. pic.twitter.com/1X90JNiQpk
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 14, 2020
Seriously?!?
Schauffele had waited three months to play again and that’s the break he gets coming down the stretch at Colonial.
Suffice to say, Schauffele couldn’t make a 24-foot birdie on the 18th and had to settle for a T-3 finish for the week.
Welcome back Xander. Yeah, winning golf tournaments is still hard.
