Xander Schauffele 'got my a** kicked' at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in his return from a rib injury

ORLANDO — The good news is that he wasn’t in pain. Not physically, anyway.

After resting for eight weeks to allow a nagging rib injury to heal, Xander Schauffele returned to competitive Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and his first round on the PGA Tour since the season-opener at the Sentry went—unfortunately—much like he feared it might. Bogeys came much too frequently on the difficult Bay Hill Club layout and rustiness was obvious in a round of five-over 77.

“It was, you know … got my ass kicked,” Schauffele said hesitantly, forcing a smile.

On Wednesday, the World No. 3 fretted that Bay Hill represented one of the more difficult venues for returning to competitive golf. But he knew he had to start somewhere with the Players Championship next week and the Masters only a month away.

“Yeah, it’s a tough place to come back to, not going to lie,” Schauffele, 31, said. “Palm Springs [where The American Express is played] would have been nice, something like that; that would have been a little bit easier—miss a couple, get away with it. A bit of a masochist, I guess. I knew I was going to come in on short notice to what is sort of like a major championship setup around the greens, and with the greens being crusty, I really felt it there more than anything else.”

One of the game’s more proficient putters, Schauffle lost 2.528 strokes on the greens (ranked 68th in the 72-man field) and was minus-1.798 around the greens.

He turned in 41 with five bogeys in the first nine hole and then steadied himself on the second nine as gusting winds that strafed the course much of the day began to diminish. His lone birdie came at the par-5 16th hole—and even that was a bit of a disappointment after he placed his second shot just seven feet from the hole, only to need two putts from there.

“Just not really seeing lines, not playing enough break, not giving enough respect to certain holes,” he said. “Tried hard to prepare, but it really … as the wind laid down, I was hitting some nice shots and, you know, that's what I was more used to.”

Asked how he was feeling, Schauffele simply replied, “great.”

Not so great is that he stands T-52 and trails leader Wyndham Clark by 10 shots. The top 50 and ties and players within 10 strokes of the lead will advance to the weekend. Paired with Justin Thomas, who began the day four over par after four holes but rallied to shoot 71, Schauffele takes another crack at Bay Hill beginning at 9:55 a.m. Friday.