If you’ve been following pro golf closely in 2024, “meltdown” is not a word you’ve likely seen attached to World No. 2 Xander Schauffele. Quite the opposite. But the now two-time major winner didn’t always put up flawless performance after flawless performance.
At this week’s 2024 BMW Championship, Schauffele is ranked second in the FedEx Cup standings and the OWGR, mostly thanks to his two major wins at the PGA and Open Championships this season. But while in line for a win four years ago at the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions, Schauffele experienced what he identified on Tuesday as the worst loss of his career.
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During his pre-tournament press conference, Schauffele provided some insight into the Hawaii meltdown that began a two-year win drought.
As Schauffele explained, he arrived at the 72nd green at the 2020 Sentry TOC needing two putts to win the tournament outright, which would have given him his second-straight TOC victory. But he made a devastating three-putt to fall into a tie and force a playoff.
The playoff did not go well for Schauffele, who was in “complete shock” after his three-putt on the final hole.
“I was so rattled from three-putting, had a meltdown, internal meltdown and chunked a chip off the fringe or something,” Schauffele explained. “I’m pretty good at being a starfish when it comes to stuff; I forget. Three-second memory here and I forget about it.”
But he was unable to draw on his starfish powers on that fateful day.
“I just remember three-putting there, was really excited, really amped up, downwind putt, whacked it seven feet by, missed it, was in complete shock, then had to go into a playoff,” Schauffele continued, “Had no chance of winning that thing, obviously.”
According to Schauffele, he had trouble getting over the especially painful collapse, as his wife Maya found out in the hotel room later that night.
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“I remember sitting in the hotel room looking at the floor and my wife Maya is asking me if I’m okay,” Schauffele revealed, “and I was like, you’re going to have to give me at least 10 or 15 minutes.”
It would be over two years until Schauffele entered the winner’s circle again with a string of victories in 2022, ending what ultimately was a three-and-half year drought.
And it wouldn’t be his last lengthy winless streak. Following his strong summer in 2022, he would go nearly two more years before winning again. But he ended that last drought in style this year with the first two major wins of his career.
Now Schauffele is trying to end his comeback season with the $25 million FedEx Cup bonus. But first he has to get through the BMW Championship, where he’ll play for a comparatively modest $4 million winner’s prize.
Schauffele tees off for the opening round alongside World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler on Thursday at 11 a.m. ET.
