We apologize if this causes some blowback in the U.S. Ryder Cup team room, but Xander Schauffele made it impossible not to report this.
If Schauffele was to get paired with one pro for the rest of his rounds on the PGA Tour, it wouldn’t be Patrick Cantlay.
That honor would actually fall to Dustin Johnson, who, at least under current circumstances, can only be paired with Schauffele at a handful of events a year since Johnson plays on LIV Golf.
The fact that his ideal perpetual pairing isn’t Cantlay comes as a bit of a shock, given the pair, the current Nos. 5 and 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking, are close. They’ll presumably form a formidable match-play duo this week at the Ryder Cup after going 4-1 together between last year’s Presidents Cup and the 2021 Ryder Cup.
Have Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay become the U.S.’s new dominant duo?
However, Schauffele did pair with Johnson for one match at Whistling Straits and the pair was victorious against Paul Casey and Bernd Wiesberger in fourballs.
The revelation came when Schauffele sat down to chat for an episode of the Grill Room with GOLF’s Claire Rogers.
In the four-plus minute rapid-fire interview — which you should watch above — Schauffele did indeed confirm that Cantlay, whom he won the 2022 Zurich Classic with, is his best friend on Tour.
But when asked to describe him, Schauffele gave a simple explanation: “Linear. He’d do pretty well in this interrogation.”