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Watch Xander Schauffele top a tee shot while contending on the back nine at Kapalua
Sam Greenwood
In his brief but impressive career on the PGA Tour, Xander Schauffele has made a habit of playing well in big events. A victory at the Tour Championship his rookie year. Two top-10 finishes in two U.S. Open starts. A runner-up at the Open Championship. Runner-up at the Players. A win at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
And on Sunday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Schauffele seemed to be doing it again. Despite a bogey on his first hole at the Plantation Course at Kapalua, the 25-year-old proceeded to go eight under over a 10-hole stretch to leap into contention with 54-hole leader Gary Woodland, turning the final-round into a two-player race.
The play included a pair of nifty chip-ins.
Despite all this, however, Schauffele wasn’t immune to a slip-up coming down the stretch. Case in point: This tee shot in the 13th hole.
To call it a cold top would be an exaggeration, but only a mild one. You can see that the highest the ball got off the ground was 31 feet. The ball did manage to go 241 yards, but that’s probably the shortest he’s hit his driver all week. Seriously, for somebody playing as hot as he was, the shot seemed to come way, way out of nowhere.
If he goes on to win the tournament, Schauffele will no doubt laugh at this. And if he doesn’t win, well he might still laugh at it considering how incredible he had been playing.