KAPALUA, Hawaii — Successful two majors solely made Xander Schauffele that rather more longing for the subsequent one. The one downer about profitable the claret jug at Royal Troon was understanding it might be greater than eight months till the subsequent one.
Additionally on his agenda is reaching No. 1 on this planet.
Which may take a bit longer.
The PGA Tour embarks on a brand new season with out Scottie Scheffler, who lower open his proper hand on damaged glass getting ready Christmas dinner. Even with out the No. 1 participant at The Sentry, Schauffele eels lots additional away than his No. 2 rating would possibly recommend.
“It’s a wild time,” Schauffele stated. “Successful two majors and being nearer to the Thirtieth-ranked participant than the primary … hat’s off to Scottie. He’s a beast.”
Schauffele, after all, is not any slouch. Each put collectively a season of exceptional consistency. Schauffele had 15 finishes within the high 10 out of his 21 begins in particular person play on the PGA Tour. From Might till the top of the season, he went 11 straight occasions no worse than fifteenth.
That included a birdie on the final gap to win the PGA Championship at Valhalla, and a command efficiency within the rain and wind of Royal Troon to win The Open.
It was the latter that received the eye of Chris Kirk, the defending champion at Kapalua.
“You can’t precisely describe how horrible it’s to play golf in these circumstances,” Kirk stated. “That was one the place — clearly, I’ve a whole lot of confidence in myself, I imagine in my recreation, I’m a top-50 participant — I watched that and was like, ‘There’s no method in hell I might try this.’”
The distinction in seasons was Scheffler transformed extra of these top-10s into titles — seven on the PGA Tour, Olympic gold, and the Hero World Problem within the Bahamas, all of them boosting his lead at No. 1 to the most important hole since Tiger Woods in his peak years.
“It’s one in every of my targets that can simply have to remain on the calendar for just a few extra years,” Schauffele stated with a straightforward smile. “If I get there I’ll be very completely satisfied. However simply primarily based on wanting on the numbers, yeah, it’s going to take a while and persistence.”
Now he’s on island time, the place nobody is in a rush.
Tee instances and groupings for the opening spherical of The Sentry event at Kapalua.
The 60-man discipline will get began on the mountainous Plantation Course at Kapalua, which is enjoying longer than ever with a gradual dose of in a single day rain.
The Sentry additionally begins a brand new construction on the PGA Tour by which solely the highest 100 gamers within the FedExCup hold their full playing cards, and the dimensions of fields is shrinking to ensure those that have playing cards get into extra tournaments.
That is the second 12 months {that a} event as soon as restricted to solely winners has been expanded to incorporate anybody who completed within the high 50 within the FedExCup. Of the 60 gamers, 29 of them did not win a event final 12 months.
That features Justin Thomas, who a minimum of would look like on the upward pattern. He missed out on the postseason in 2023 and made it again to the Tour Championship. It was a greater 12 months, however not sufficient for him to be picked for the Presidents Cup.
Take into account that to be a giant motivator this 12 months with a Ryder Cup on the horizon. Step one is profitable, which Thomas hasn’t performed for the reason that PGA Championship in 2022. Earlier than that, he piled up 15 wins on the PGA Tour in a seven-year stretch.
“I actually felt like I used to be going to win a number of instances each season just about, till I misplaced it a bit bit,” Thomas stated. “It’s simply so onerous to win out right here. Naturally, the higher participant that you’re, you will get away with extra errors, however come the top of the week on Sunday, it’s a must to win the golf event.
“I used to be lucky the place I used to be doing it very often and I nonetheless really feel like I’m totally succesful and count on to try this extra,” he stated. “However I positively felt prefer it ought to have occurred frequently.”
Schauffele can recognize the sensation. He additionally had gone two years with out profitable till he ended that drought in one of the simplest ways potential — not one main, however two.
It begins with probabilities, and that has develop into his hallmark, very like it’s for Scheffler. Schauffele comes into Kapalua with the longest energetic lower streak on the PGA Tour at 56 in a row, which is able to improve as a result of there isn’t any lower this week.
The document is 142 in a row by Woods. That could be even additional away than his objective of changing Scheffler at No. 1 on this planet.
