Xander Schauffele is likely to expand its PGA tour best line of cuts made to 59 consecutive tournaments, but the twice large winner was blunt about the condition of his game after the second round of Players Championship on Friday.
“It’s pretty rough, to be completely honest,” Schauffele told reporters after shortening a 1-under-pair 71 on TPC Sawgrass.
Even couples through the first 35 holes in the tournament knew Schauffele that he needed a birdie on his last hole of the day to have a strong chance to play the weekend. After starting on the back nine Friday, he closed his round with two-putty from 50 1/2 feet for Birdie on the PAR-5 ninth hole.
“I probably thought of the cut line,” Schauffele acknowledged. “Knew I needed to make Birdie.”
Schauffele returned from a six -week termination to enable an intercostal on Ribben’s cartilage on his right to heal, and he tied for the 40th on last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. He arrived at TPC Sawgrass this week and wanted to work back in shape with the champions less than a month away, and Schauffele will at least have two more rounds to work with all aspects of his game.
“Not to beat it close enough, to Duffing chips, to miss every fairy tale, to meet the fairways of missing greens,” Schauffele said when he was asked if the questions are beyond his putting misery this week. “So if I can get this cut it would be nice. But the game feels pretty bad.”
Schauffele said he is supposed to limit his exercise sessions due to the ongoing recovery from the injury, but intended to “blow it out of the water” on the range Friday afternoon.
“Surprisingly, it feels a little close, which is, I know, pretty sick to say. I know many guys say it, but I will be a little cozier on the range and the type of getting a decent pattern, and as soon as I get on the course it seems a bit more, but it is not safe.
When asked if he was potentially too hard against himself, Schauffele did not let go of the gas in his self -assessment.
“I almost missed the cut on what is a pretty simple course right now, so I don’t think so,” he said. “No. I think I am doing well on myself.”
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