PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Xander Schauffele has seven wins on his resume, eight if you include the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, but entering Sunday’s final round of the Players Championship Schauffele is on the cusp of perhaps his most prestigious title since joining the Tour in 2016.
After a bogey-free third-round 65, which matched his score in Thursday’s opening round, the 30-year-old sits on top of leaderboard at a TPC Sawgrass course where he has previously struggled. He had missed three consecutive cuts here before a T19 finish last year.
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He erased a four-shot deficit to Wyndham Clark and leads by one, thanks to a textbook four-birdie performance on the front nine and what Schauffele called a bit of a grind on the back nine. But he found ways to keep the bogey-free round intact.
“I only hit two fairways on the back nine,” Schauffele said. “I was just told that on radio. Don't feel bad for me. When you make 58-footers, you kind of get up-and-down on holes like 18 from the front rough, it takes a little bit of stress off certain parts of your game.”
The 58-footer came on the par-4 14th, where Clark was inside the leather and no doubt mentally writing down a three before Schauffele’s bomb gave him the lead for the first time.
Clark badly mishit his tee shot on the island green 17th hole and when it splashed 15 yards short, Schauffele regained the lead he had lost the hole before. He would hold on with a clutch up-and-down par at 18.
“I'd say it was kind of more how I carried myself,” Schauffele said. “At times in the past I'll get a bit ahead of myself and lose a little bit of confidence when I shouldn't. Today I tried to stay in my own little box there with (his caddy) Austin and not look at too many leaderboards when I didn't have to, just because it's Saturday, there's no need to do that. I heard roars all around the property and I really just kind of stayed in my lane.”
A positive vibe can only go so far, and after hitting only two fairways on the back nine, Schauffele hit the range after the round.
“I think there's still a few things I'm not super comfortable with,” Schauffele said of his work with Chris Como, his new swing coach. “We talk about it all the time. But a steady drip carves a stone and we both believe that's the case, and that's what we're going to do.”
The stone to carve on Sunday won’t be easy. He’s had seven career 54-hole lead or co-leads in individual stroke-play events. He’s converted two of them into victory.
“It could be low tomorrow, but for the most part I'm going to try and enjoy myself and stay in my lane,” Schauffele said.
