Xander Schauffele flexed his muscles at TPC Sawgrass on Saturday. He entered the day tied for the 36-hole leader, Windham Clark, with a four-shot lead.
Still, Schauffele shot a 7-under 65 with no bogeys, finishing the tournament with a total of 17 under. His great play put him ahead of Clark, who shot a 2-under 70 on Saturday.
While he was able to make 3 birdies The back nine was painful for him. He showed resilience throughout the round when finding the fairway proved impossible.
“I only hit two fairways on the back nine,” Schauffele said. “When you make a 58-foot hole, you get ups and downs from the front rough on holes like the 18th. It makes certain parts of the game a little less stressful. Overall, it was a little tough.”
The reigning Olympic gold medalist made seven birdies and shot a 65 for the second time this week, but he had to have ice in his veins to make it happen.
“In the past, I’ve sometimes gotten a little ahead of myself and lost confidence when I shouldn’t have,” he says. “Today I tried to stay in my little box with Austin.” [Kaiser, his caddie] I tried not to look at the leaderboard too much unless I needed to. There’s no need for that. I could hear the roar all over the property, but I really didn’t leave my lane. ”
That way of thinking worked for him.
“I sometimes hold myself to pretty high standards, and sometimes it’s not good to do that in the middle of a round,” he explained. “Instead of wondering why you’re not doing what you’re supposed to do, you need to switch to confidence and positivity.”
Schauffele scored when Clark couldn’t and saved par when he needed it most.
He and Clark could easily have entered Sunday tied for 17 under. However, Clark hit his tee shot on the 17th hole at the infamous island green hole and hit it into the water after just 102 yards.
The former Oregon Duck dropped to 16 under with a bogey.
Schauffele tried to put the ball on the green, but left a difficult putt. He had great speed control on his birdie putt, but just missed. The proud seven-time winner on the PGA Tour settled for par but left the hole with a one-stroke lead.
Today’s round should inspire confidence, but history suggests Schauffele may not take it home Trophy on Sunday.
According to The Athletic’s Justin Ray, of the last eight players who held a one-stroke lead after 54 holes in the tournament, none went on to win.
Schauffele has finished runner-up 12 times in his career. He also has three third-place finishes and 39 top-five finishes. This kind of statistic is mind-boggling, as the world No. 6 is notorious for coming up short in tournaments he could have won.
Another disappointment may be on the horizon for Schauffele, but perhaps it’s time for him to finally win one of the PGA Tour’s biggest events. He and Clark will remain paired in the final round, but five players within five strokes of Schauffele will be on the back foot in Championship Sunday, poised to take Schauffele’s title.
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.
