‘Cussed’ Schauffele makes ‘fool’ mistake, playing cards quadruple bogey at Zozo Championship

Xander Schauffele led the PGA Tour in bogey avoidance this previous season.

However Thursday on the Zozo Championship, he admittedly bought a bit cussed.

After his tee shot nestled close to a tree on the ninth gap, the world No. 2 compounded the error by taking two swipes within the span of 5 seconds, barely advancing the ball earlier than he ultimately determined to take an unplayable lie. He walked off with a quadruple-bogey 8, his solely dropped pictures throughout a gap spherical of 3-over 73 that matched his highest rating on Tour since June.

Schauffele is tied for 70^th within the restricted discipline of 78 gamers.

“If it was Sunday, I’d be pissed,” he mentioned afterward. “At the moment, I’m simply attempting to brush it off. I’ve bought three extra days in entrance of me.”

Schauffele had made eight straight pars earlier than his travails on the ninth. Approaching his ball, he mentioned the lie was so poor, sitting in a “crevasse,” that he even considered taking an image to chortle about it later. He believed, at worst, that his shot would simply ricochet off the tree in entrance of him.

Not as soon as, however twice – all in a matter of just some seconds.

“Then I used to be cussed and tried to hit it once more,” he mentioned. “I used to be going to hit it a 3rd time too, simply because, however yeah – it was a nasty spot.”

Schauffele, universally praised by his friends for his steadiness between the ropes, mentioned it’d in all probability been over a 12 months since he “had a meltdown like that.” He nonetheless laughed it off within the second.

“Only a mixture of being overconfident and being actually cussed,” he mentioned. “Generally it pays off for me in tournaments. And at this time, it bit me within the ass.”