Xander Schauffele continues his strong showing at Valhalla Golf Club after day two of the 2024 PGA Championship. He shot a 3-under 68, placing him at 12 under for the tournament and one stroke behind Collin Morikawa.
Schauffele had a tough fight Friday. He went around in 32 strokes, making three birdies in the process. He had birdie-bogeys on the 10th and 11th of the back nine, but settled for par the rest of the way.
The seven-time PGA Tour winner showed a lot of grit Friday to maintain his spot atop the PGA Championship leaderboard.
“When you haven’t won a golf tournament in several years, it takes a lot of resilience,” Schauffele said.
“I’m just trying to be patient and try to stay out of my way and play the best golf I can. I know I’m playing really good golf right now and all I can do is play the best golf I can.” I just have to focus on the process and talking to Austin and that’s it.”
This is the second consecutive tournament this week, and they are in contention heading into the weekend. Schauffele fell short last week as Rory McIlroy’s incredible Sunday round ended the 30-year-old’s momentum.
Despite not winning since the 2022 Genesis Scottish Open, he wasn’t going to let another runner-up fail. Schauffele quickly returned to work at Valhalla, and so far it has paid off.
“I was disappointed that we didn’t win, but I knew we played well,” he said. “On Sunday, I had a few hiccups at the wrong times. Rory played incredibly well. I know how I hit it and by the time I teed off on Thursday I had enough to learn this golf course.” My biggest worry was whether I would be able to get enough rest.”
Photo by Andrew Reddington/Getty Images
This is my first time playing Valhalla. He shot a 4.167 in the first round and was second in strokes gained putts. But on Friday, Schauffele made a 180-degree turn, ranking 115th in strokes gained and losing 1.203 strokes on the putting green.
He knows that with a leaderboard like this, with so many players within range, it will be important to stay in your lane over the weekend. If Schauffele wants to win his first major championship, he’ll have to be blindfolded and relentless on the course.
“I think my blood boiled as soon as 62 was posted,” he said. “It’s like if the roles were reversed, everyone would feel like they could shoot from low now. That’s how we do it here. So I think it helps to keep our heads down, at least for now. It’s only two rounds.”
Schauffele and Morikawa are scheduled to tee off together Saturday after the rest of the players finish their second round. Play was halted at 8:41 p.m. ET due to darkness, leaving a small group to complete 36 holes.
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social platforms. You can also follow her on Twitter @SportsGirls and Instagram @savannah_leigh_sports.
