IIt’s not like anyone thought Xander Schauffele had won his final golf tournament at the 2024 Open Championship, but golf – as fickle as it is – holds little promise.
Those promises include:
No matter how good you think your team’s scramble score is, there will always be another team that goes so low that you can’t help but wonder what their math is;
New clubs always work the first few rounds;
And it’s much harder to win on the PGA Tour than anyone realizes, no matter how easy Scottie Scheffler makes it look.
Which brings us back to Schauffele.
He missed two months earlier this year due to a rib injury, and by the time Schauffele was healthy enough to compete again, there was dust on his game. It was inevitable and to his credit, Schauffele never made excuses and worked to get back to the player he was when he won two majors in 2024.
Winning the Baycurrent Championship Sunday in Japan isn’t the same as winning the Claret Jug, but for players who are used to playing at one level and have slipped from their familiar perch, holding a trophy in hand has its own special satisfaction.
“I think our sport is getting younger and I’m not getting any younger. It’s nice to end this year with a bang. I’m turning 32 this month, so hopefully I can take some steps or make some good strides here until I’m in my mid-30s,” Schauffele said.
“I mean, I was pretty nervous. It’s been over a year since I even wanted to win a golf tournament. I was probably as nervous or more nervous than (the challengers) just because I knew I’d done it before and I had to dig deep into my memory to do it again.”
“I think our sport is getting younger and I’m not getting any younger. It’s nice to end this year with a bang. I’m turning 32 this month, so hopefully I can take a good step here or make a good step in my mid-30s.” – Xander Schauffele
As fall approaches and what amounts to the end of the PGA Tour season (four official tournaments remain), the time for reflection and recalibration has arrived.
For someone like Max Greyserman, who ended the second Sunday without a win for the fifth time in his tour career, the message is likely to be patience, reminding himself that if he keeps giving himself chances, he will win one of these weeks. All he has to do is think back to Cam Young finally winning at the Wyndham Championship in August.
For others, however, the chase is different.
Jordan Spieth is 56th in FedEx Cup points, his second straight year outside the top 50. Like Schauffele, Spieth has dealt with his own injury issues and while there have been enough good flashes to believe he’s close, it’s still a matter of getting over the line.
Tony Finau stepped into the shadows this year, dropping to 73rd in the points race after finishing in the top 10 just once in 20 starts. He withdrew a few times prior to the tournament and made a late-season caddy change, but statistically he ranks outside the top 100 in strokes gained tee to green, strokes gained off tee, strokes gained off the tee and strokes gained putting.
That’s a recipe for invisibility.
At 45, Adam Scott didn’t have a top-10 finish this year and his final-round 79 at the US Open came as a blow. Scott has elegantly held off the onslaught of time, but he is in that netherworld between his prime and the opportunity to play against guys closer to his age in PGA Tour Champions.
Max Homa’s storyline reads like a cautionary tale. He went from rock bottom to almost the top of the world and invited us in with his brilliant sense of humor and appreciation for having persevered where many would have surrendered.
Things are going wrong again for Homa, who is in 100th place on the points list and is still hunting for the reliability that has disappeared from his game. He kindly answered questions about his struggle, but like everyone else, Homa wants confirmation that the work he has done has been worth it.
Again, golf comes with no promises.
Sahith Theegala and Will Zalatoris know all about it. Theegala finished third in the FedEx Cup race last year, but a series of injuries ruined his ’25 season. Zalatoris, the 2021 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, underwent his second back surgery in three years in May and will start fresh next year.
The grind will resume for some next week at the Bank of Utah Championship. There is one promise: everyone even starts at the first tee.
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